


The Rest of Our Lives

by percabethperfect



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Emotional, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Future Fic, Marriage Proposal, NSFW, Post-Canon, Smut, a little hurt/comfort as well, and their relationship, but it's not the main theme, jealous!Percy, minors not allowed, the main theme is THEM, young adult percabeth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:09:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24240349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/percabethperfect/pseuds/percabethperfect
Summary: Percy and Annabeth are young adults (and cute lovebirds) who are now just trying to build a life with one another... if they can catch a break (piss off, Hera).Lots of fluff and cuteness; emotional stuff being sorted out and occasional smut parts only to keep the plot company. There will be warnings in the notes if you'd like to skip those.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 66
Kudos: 229





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is swearing and some implied sexual content in this chapter, so beware.

Percy and Annabeth were lying on their couch as per usual, cuddling, with Annabeth on top of Percy. Annabeth was sleeping as Percy was watching her relaxed figure. He started to give feather-light kisses on her hair and face.

Even though he thought he was being gentle to not wake her, she still started to wake up and decided on returning the favour as she kissed him too; lightly on his neck, then Percy asked if he woke her up. Annabeth tilted her head up slightly and said, “Yeah… But don’t worry. I can always wake up to this. Just like this.”

One hand on his chest, the other caressing his cheek, she gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. She combed his hair back lovingly and jokingly greeted him:

“Hey, handsome.”

He tucked a few strands of golden curls behind her ear and replied:

“Hey yourself, beautiful.”

“How long was I asleep?”

“About an hour.” Annabeth slowly starts to make a move to get off of him.

“Oh, gods. I’m sorry. That must have been pretty uncomfortable for you.” But he pulled her back and said, “No, no. I’m comfortable, thank you very much.” She chuckled at his words and kissed his cheek.

“You are too sweet for your own good. Thank you for the nice display of chivalry but, I think my boobs are sore from lying flat on you for an hour.”

Despite his efforts, she got up and sat on the other side of the couch, taking Percy’s legs and putting them on her lap. “Are they now?” But Percy didn’t stay there as he sat up as well and scooted next to Annabeth, putting his arm around her shoulders. Annabeth smiled and immediately put her arm around his stomach, lightly hugging him. She loved to be held by him too much to reject the opportunity.

“Well… I can always make them feel better,” said Percy, smirking mischievously while his free hand teasingly moved towards her chest. Amused by his attitude, she jokingly slapped away his hand. “So much for my chivalrous fiancée… Turns out he just wants me for my body. Shame on you, Mr. Jackson.”

Percy took her hand to caress the engagement ring he gave her. A three-stone gold ring; a big one in the middle with a seafoam green colour and two smaller diamonds each on one side of it.

After failing to find a ring worthy of Annabeth, Aphrodite had showed up out of nowhere to entertain herself and benefit from the situation by offering him the perfect ring… once he did her a favour.

* * *

Said favour would be much easier if it were just slaying a few monsters perhaps, but no… She had to make him go distract Hephaestus while she and Ares went on a date.

Yes. That was still a thing, even though every single living being, including Hephaestus, knew about their affair. Turns out Hephaestus was being grumpier about it lately and Aphrodite thought a visit from Percy would distract him for enough time for those two to… well, “get it on”, so to speak. Percy wasn’t ecstatic to help Ares in the process as well, but he had been searching every jewellery store for weeks, so he gave in and said, “fuck it”. Anything for the woman he loves.

After he kept his end of the bargain (he was surprised by how he pulled it off as well), Aphrodite gave him the ring in a small white box, advising him to do it the Greek way. He wasn’t sure what she meant, but he got what he wanted; the ring was gorgeous, and Percy and Annabeth’s initials were engraved on the inside of it.

The goddess of love was way too interested in his and Annabeth’s relationship, and that always scared him a bit. But he had to give it to her… It really was the perfect ring. So, after saying his thanks and promising to burn an offering for her, Aphrodite wished him good luck and left him to prepare for the right moment to pop the question.

At that particular day which he decided to ask her, he had arranged their apartment into a really nice and romantic mood with lighting and music, and he managed to cook her favourite meal without burning down the kitchen so, he was actually proud of himself.

The elegant white box was safely in his pocket when Annabeth came home, and after they ate their dinner with Annabeth jokingly playing the role of a cooking show chef to rank Percy’s performance on cooking, Percy went back to the kitchen, saying he’ll just grab a glass of water.

But the truth was… the ring was gone. He swore it was in his pocket until he decided to transition their conversation into asking her to marry him, but right at that moment when he put his hand in his pocket, the box disappeared.

After a few frantic laps made in the kitchen, he really started to panic. He couldn’t ask her to marry him without a ring! He has spent too much of an effort for this moment to go back in there without a ring.

Did he not burn an offering for Aphrodite after he got home from his strange quest? He did, right? Even if he didn’t, he knows he burnt another one yesterday, just in case. So, if he didn’t anger the goddess of love with his foolishness, what went wrong? Was it Athena this time? Couldn’t be, right? He burnt one for her as well, right after the one for Aphrodite.

Oh, no! It was after the one for Aphrodite! Did Athena get mad for it and now was not letting him propose to her daughter as punishment?

Oh, come on! Why were the gods always finding new ways to toy with his life? Didn’t he suffer enough? All these thoughts were too much in his head. In order to think properly to find a solution, he actually went for a glass of water to calm himself a bit.

While he was drinking, his eyes caught a basket of apples on the kitchen table. When did they even get apples? The last grocery shopping was done by him (and to Annabeth’s dismay, there were a few forgotten things left to buy) but he was sure he never got apples. It was a small basket and Percy noticed that both the basket and the apples had a slight but certain glow around them. It was almost like they were sent by a… Oh, shit!

The Greek way! The fucking Greek way! So, _that’s_ what she meant! This was not Athena’s doing (thank the gods for that), this was Aphrodite again, just wanting him to play by her rules. A manipulative move as always but, he figured it could be much worse when it came to the Olympians. After his grand revelation, he set his glass down to take one of the apples in the basket just as Annabeth was getting impatient.

“How much water are you drinking, Seaweed Brain? Come on, leaving your date unattended is very rude, you know!”

Percy checked his pocket again to not fuck this up and there it was. The ring was inside as well. Well played, Aphrodite… Well played. He went back in with the apple in his hand and a big grin on his face. Noticing both, Annabeth said, “Oh, so you were eating apples in there. You could’ve just eaten here without leaving your girlfriend all alone. I thought you knew better.”

Percy came closer to her. “You’re right, I’m sorry. This one’s for you though, if you want it.” The apple did look delicious.

“Sure, why not?”

Percy’s grin grew into a full-on smile.

“Alright, then. Catch.”

With nice reflexes worthy of the hero she is, Annabeth caught the apple with ease. Then, just as she was about to take a bite, she noticed its slight glow and became confused. While looking deeply at the apple and inspecting it further to figure out why, she jokingly asked:

“You could’ve just given it to me, why did you throw it? You’re not proposing, are you?”

Just as she said those last words, she turned her head to find Percy on one knee with a small box in his hands. The sight immediately made her gasp.

“Oh, my gods, you _are!_ I’m so sorry! I should’ve–”

“You don’t want me to?”

“No, Percy, that’s not–”

“I thought it was the right time. If it’s not, I-I’m sorry. I don’t want to push you into anything you don’t want. _Oh, gods,_ you don’t want me to propose _at all._ ”

“ _No!_ That’s not–”

“–what you want, yeah. I should’ve thought about this more. I’m just so _stupid_ that–”

“Percy, _listen–_ ”

“I automatically thought that you wanted marriage without asking _your_ opinion on it, and now, you’re probably going to break up with me and–”

“Can you just _stop_ assuming the worst for a second and _listen to me, please?!_ ”

Percy finally fell silent at the sudden rise of her voice and watched her expression change from frustrated to sympathetic with a sigh. She placed the apple on the table and looked into his scared eyes. They were slowly starting to become glassy, ready for tears. Then she got off her chair to stand on her knees with him and took his face in her hands, caressing lovingly while still looking into his eyes, and the longer she looked at them, her own eyes started to copy their current state as well.

“First, let’s get something straight. I’m _not_ breaking up with you. You’re not getting away from me that easily. Second, you didn’t need to ask me about marriage directly. We talked about this, remember? We talked about building a family together. I may have not specifically said that I want to marry you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to, either. And do I think it’s the right time to do this? I think you should’ve done this a long time ago.”

Despite all her affirmations, there was a still perplexed looking Percy staring at Annabeth.

“…So, you changed your mind about saying yes?”

Annabeth softly chuckled at her clueless boyfriend. Even though she thought she made it so obvious to him that she wants this, he was still struggling to understand what he should do next.

She kissed his nose and looked into his eyes with a smile, whispering, “Just ask me, Seaweed Brain. Let’s see what happens, yeah?”

She withdrew her hands from his face to give him some space. They were still on their knees with Percy repositioning himself on both knees. He took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled, closing his eyes for a moment, hoping to relax. He opened them and looked deeply into Annabeth’s usually stormy-grey, but now calm, bluish-grey eyes, watching him expectantly. 

“Annabeth. The twelve-year-old me would probably deny this at all costs but… I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you and your beautiful curls catching the little sunlight that came through the window. And yes, I know, I still drool in my sleep but, I think the reason why I’m still able to do that is… you. By my side. Every step of the way. Helping me, _protecting me,_ even when you didn’t have to. Wise Girl, you have made a mark on me so _big_ that the only thing I remembered when I first arrived at Camp Jupiter, was you. Your voice, your smile. I didn’t even remember who _I_ was, but I remembered _you_. You were my anchor then… You were my anchor when I bathed in River Styx… And you’re still my anchor, now.”

“I know you don’t need as much help as me and I know I don’t _have_ to protect you from everything, because I know you would survive with those wits of yours and your _incredible_ strength, but… At the same time, I still want to be there for you. I still want to help you in whatever way I can. And I sure as hell still want to wrap my arms around you and protect you from _every_ danger you might _ever_ face… Annabeth… _I am so in love with you._ ”

All the panic and anxiety gone, now they were both crying at Percy’s vulnerable love profession. Annabeth wasn’t expecting this big moment, she thought he would just utter one sentence but, she was gladly embracing it.

Of course, Percy would tell Annabeth that he loves her on a daily basis and always spoil her in every way that he can, but this was different. When it came to showing affection, Percy was mainly touch-oriented. But they were both like that, come to think of it. Hugs, kisses; caressing and spooning… They were never big on _soul-bearing_ and vulnerable confessions. If it happened, it was rare. And _this_ was rare, too.

“I am utterly, desperately, _hopelessly_ in love with you. I want to spend every minute, every _second_ building a life together for us. _Something permanent._ ” Annabeth caught her breath.

“You remembered.”

“I mean it, Annabeth. I want that for us. I will do everything to give that to you… And I swear on River Styx, I–”

“ _STOP!_ ” Annabeth closed Percy’s mouth with her hand in a hurry.

“Why?”

“What do you mean _why,_ Percy?! You can’t swear on River Styx on a whim!”

“It’s not a whim, Annabeth, I mean it! I’m not making empty promises to you.” A small whimper escaped Annabeth’s mouth. She was extremely moved by his courageous loyalty, but she also didn’t want that to be his downfall. She cupped his face once again, leaned her forehead against his and whispered:

“ _I know._ I know, Percy. But you don’t need to swear on greater powers to prove it to me, I already know you mean it. Let’s not meddle with the gods, _I can’t lose you again…_ ”

At the sound of her voice breaking and at the sight of tears streaming down her face, Percy realized that this should’ve been a happier occasion where those tears were from happiness and not fear. So, for an attempt at trying to make her feel better, he caressed her golden curls, kissed her tears and whispered sweet nothings to her.

“I’m sorry. _Shhshh, hey._ I’m sorry, Wise Girl. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere… I didn’t mean to upset you. That’s never my intention. Never.”

She relaxed after a few minutes of Percy gently comforting her. They were holding each other on the ground, the ring box somewhere near Percy’s leg.

Deciding that there was probably enough emotional release already, he led Annabeth and himself to the wall nearby and they leaned their backs to it. Annabeth felt like they were back on Argo II’s stables again, hearing Percy talk about a future together for the first time. Now, it was finally starting to become true. She silently watched him search around for the white box that she saw in his hands earlier. When he found it, he turned to her and opened the box to reveal what was inside.

It was probably the most beautiful ring she has ever seen. The gold was gently enveloping the sea-green stone and two diamonds on it. It was so elegant, yet so gorgeous. Annabeth didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Percy decided to talk.

“Do you like it?”

“Percy… This is beautiful. Where did you get this?”

“Not to brag or anything but, it’s a gift from the goddess of love herself.”

“Hold on. Lady Aphrodite gave you this? Why?”

“It kind of involved me doing a favour for her but, I assure you, it’s nothing to worry about. The ring is legit. There’s no extra baggage situation going on. The only extra you should know about, however, is that our initials are engraved on the inside of its golden band which I think is pretty cool.”

Annabeth softly laughed while Percy showed her their initials on it. For the first time, Aphrodite’s interest in her love life has turned into a useful thing, she thought.

Just as he tried to slide the ring on her finger, Annabeth pulled her hand back, “You were saying, Percy?”. After a few seconds of looking blankly at her face to try to understand what was wrong, it dawned on him.

“Oh. _Oh._ Yes. Yes, I’m so sorry. Where was I? …Right. Annabeth?”

“Percy.”

“My love.”

“Back at you.”

“The love of my life.” Annabeth let out a sigh.

“ _Honey, I know._ You’re sweet, but can’t you just ask me already?”

They both laughed at the situation they put themselves in. Two heroes of Olympus crying and laughing, crying again and laughing some more as they try to navigate through this new stage of their lives: a chance at a normal life with one another. Percy held the ring between them which was supposed to be on her finger by now.

“Will you marry me?”

Looking up at Percy’s face, Annabeth smiled giddily at him, eyes shining with tears again. From happiness.

“Yes… Yes, I will.”

Cupping his face, she pulled him close to lean in for a kiss. It was filled to the brim with emotion, for the love they had for each other. Both were smiling through it, so it was kind of messy, perhaps. But they were together. And they were happy.

Percy took her hand that was on his cheek to put the ring on its rightful place. Annabeth sighed deeply at the sight. He wrapped his arms around her just like he promised he would and gave her a long, sweet kiss on her forehead. This was good. This was home.

* * *

“You’re also making a shit ton of money these days; so that helped too, to be honest with you.”

That made her slap his arm this time.

“ _Ouch._ But tell me, is it really shameful of me to offer my _comforting_ services to my soon-to-be wife, Mrs. Jackson?” Annabeth giggled at Percy’s use of words while laying her head on his shoulder.

“I’m not Mrs. Jackson, yet. I don’t want to impose that on your mom too early.” Percy was playing with a strand of curl as he held her close.

“You won’t be imposing, believe me. She’ll be beyond thrilled when she hears about this. But you don’t feel uncomfortable when I say it like that, right? I know you’ll keep Chase as well but saying them together feels too long for the tongue. Although, I may be a bit biased on the topic.” She still smiled at the thought of being called Mrs. Jackson.

“It’s okay. It doesn’t bother me. I actually like the sound of it.”

“Yeah? You do?”

“Yes. For example, I can now use it if a girl starts to obnoxiously flirt with you. I can just slide next to you casually and introduce myself as Mrs. Jackson with my ring hand extended to her so she can also see my gorgeous ring which is ‘a gift from the goddess of love herself’. Those were your words, right?”

Percy was laughing uncontrollably at her.

“I can’t believe you just shut down a hypothetical girl by using my –and soon to be your– last name in five seconds for ‘obnoxiously’ hitting on me. Woman, you are really easy to get jealous for your own good, though I’m loving the show personally, so don’t mind me.”

After hearing his words, Annabeth moved a bit away from him to give him a piece of her mind. “Oh, _I’m_ easy to get jealous. Right… Okay. If _I’m_ too easy to get jealous, then what was that stunt you pulled in my office the other day? To my _boss,_ no less.”

Percy steered his gaze to the ceiling, exposing his neck which Annabeth loved to focus on and the thin stainless-steel chain she got him on Valentine’s Day. _Not now,_ she said in her head. She heard a low and short-lived growl from him as he spoke with his gaze still on the ceiling.

“That guy was checking you out head to toe in front of me and he needed to know he was treading in dangerous waters.”

“Good one, babe. Water was a nice touch.”

“It wasn’t intended.”

“Well, that’s a first.” He turns his gaze back to her.

“Please tell me you’re not going to defend this guy. You don’t even like him. He treats you like shit and always tries to overwork you to the bone.”

“Believe me, I’m not defending him. But he _is_ still my boss who holds the key to my promotion, and you and your wolf stare weren’t exactly helping me at that moment.”

“He’s lucky he only got the stare. That was me restraining myself to not punch his stupid rich guy face.”

Annabeth, not being able to restrain _herself_ any longer, slowly made her way towards his neck as she played with his chain.

“ _Hmhmm._ Keep talking.”

She had only just started to place gentle kisses when he pulled away a little and said, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Annabeth’s voice became low as she continued playing with his chain.

“Maybe even more than you enjoy me getting jealous, yeah.”

“Is that right?”

“ _Hmhmm…”_ She mumbled an approval.

“Well, in that case, I now decide that I won’t give you that satisfaction.” Annabeth made a fake gasp come out of her mouth as she listened to him.

“You wouldn’t.”

“You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

“Oh, I _know_ what you’re capable of. That’s why I’m enjoying it too much. But you wouldn’t want to see me... unhappy... would you? You love me too much for that.”

“I do love you, but I also love to keep you on your toes, so to speak.”

“Speaking of… What’s my birthday surprise this year?” Percy laughed at her question.

“You just got it, babe. A man can only do so much. Isn’t the ring and my unconditional love enough?” Annabeth pouted at that.

“My birthday is two days later, and you’re saying that instead of proposing on my birthday –and therefore, giving me my present– you just said, ‘fuck it’ and skipped on it without giving it a thought, is that right, Seaweed Brain?”

“I couldn’t wait any longer, alright? I knew that you were going to be free today, so I thought, why wait? It was a good idea because I knew that the next day of proposing, we could just stay at home spending time with each other and making love to make the best of it.” It was Annabeth’s turn to laugh this time.

“So _that’s_ why you kept me in bed all day. You planned this all along.”

“I did. I _planned_ the whole thing. Does that turn you on?” He was intent on making her laugh as much as he could, but he wasn’t wrong. Percy planning things _did_ make her feel all kinds of things in her lower parts.

“Alright, then, Mr. Jackson. If your big birthday plan has already done its job, may I suggest an activity for my actual birthday?”

“Anything for the birthday girl.”

Annabeth smirked at the thought. Getting closer to him again, she positioned her mouth near his ear. Her warm breath slightly making him shiver, she spoke with a low voice:

“On my birthday… I want you to blow my back out.”

That made him close his eyes and growl uncontrollably. He could already feel his pants becoming uncomfortable at the thought of Annabeth’s face in her pillow, raising her hips and backing up to him as he makes her whimper and moan in all kinds of sounds.

Annabeth slightly turned her face to him and spoke against his lips this time:

“I know you like it just as much as I do.” She kissed him chastely, despite the current state of where their conversation was going. “I do love our love-making, baby, but it feels like it’s been ages since we _really_ pleasured each other, don’t you think?”

It has been a while, Percy thought to himself. The last time they really went at it was probably when Annabeth got back from that weeklong work trip she went on to see over the start of some construction site. The minute she walked in the door of their apartment; both their clothes found their way all around the living room as they couldn’t wait to get close to one another.

“I can pleasure you _right now_ if you like.”

Annabeth grinned against his lips, her hands playing with the hair on the nape of his neck. “As much as we would both enjoy that, I know we’ll enjoy it more if we wait for just two days, and then it’ll be more special,” Percy grunted at her words.

“You turn me on to get me all hot and bothered and expect me to wait for _two days_ to actually get the action? But that’s too _fucking_ long!”

Annabeth grinned as she got up from the couch to grab something to drink for them. It was almost time for their favourite show to start, maybe that would distract them from ripping each other’s clothes off.

“I need you to save all that energy and tension; we both know it’s more satisfying when we’re frustrated.” Percy still let out a disgruntled sound as he switched through channels on TV to find the one he’s looking for. “You are cruel, soon-to-be wifey.”

“And _you_ are incorrigible, soon-to-be hubby.” They both smiled as Annabeth sat back on the couch and handed a can of coke to him.

As the show started, Annabeth thought she could get used to this. She could get used to calling Percy her husband. He was probably the only man that made her feel comfortable with the thought. That made her feel safe. _At home._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I heard there was a drought of jealous!Percy. I'm happy to inform you that I'm here to provide you with one. Plus, it has some fluff and smut in it, so it's a win-win in my book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the next day after the proposal. Please beware that this chapter has some swearing and a huge chunk of smut towards the end. You can always skip the smut parts if you want to. 
> 
> (If you're a minor and if you are not heeding the warnings in the tags, please at least leave now.)

When the clock hit 6.30 a.m., the alarm blared through the slightly sunlit bedroom to wake the couple up who were not exactly early birds.

Annoyed by the ugly sound of the alarm that seemed keen on giving her a morning headache, Annabeth groaned to find herself lightly snoring while she disentangled her left hand from Percy’s to turn it off. Before she even attempted to get up, Percy tightened his now released hand around Annabeth’s torso; his other hand still holding onto her right hand hanging beside the bed, he wrapped that arm around her as well to cage her in.

“Percy…”

“Hmm...”

“Let me get up.”

“Why?”

“Work.”

Not wanting to let go, Percy lazily nuzzled against her neck.

“Stay,” he said. “Five minutes.”

“We both know it’s going to be more than five minutes.”

“But you’re so soft.”

Annabeth enjoyed their mornings tangled up in each other just as much as Percy, maybe even more than him. But traffic in New York was a pain in the ass in the mornings so she had to get up and get dressed as soon as possible in order to avoid it.

“You get up so early. I’ll drop you off, you won’t be late, I promise.”

“What about you? You have work, too.”

“Shift hours changed. I don’t have to be at the aquarium until 9.30.”

Face still buried in Annabeth’s neck, he breathed her in, then exhaled while placing a kiss on her bare shoulder that escaped the comforter. Annabeth sighed at how blissful that tiny gesture made her feel.

She peeked an eye to check the clock and it was 6.34 already. She turned around to face him –not without noticing the small patch of a wet spot near Percy’s mouth–, placing her hand on his morning stubble and gently rubbing her thumb against it, she whispered:

“Can you make us some breakfast while I’m getting ready? I might even give you a kiss as a reward.”

Percy puckered his lips at her, waiting for the said kiss. Annabeth gently shoved his face away from hers, saying, “Not now, Seaweed Brain. After. And I’m not kissing you until you brush your teeth.”

She half-heartedly got up from the bed. Her legs shivered at the loss of heat while she straightened the sports shorts she wore to bed and made her way towards their bathroom. “Come wash up with me.”

She flicked the lights on, the crusts around her eyes were too uncomfortable so she splashed some water on her face before going for a morning pee.

Just when she was finishing up, Percy entered the bathroom to wash his face as well. While Annabeth was pulling her shorts up, she caught a glimpse of a smirking Percy in the mirror for a split second, looking at her reflection. She flushed down the toilet and asked him:

“What are you smirking at over there?”

He reached for his toothbrush as he replied:

“Just admiring my gorgeous lady… Couldn’t help myself; the girls were moving up and down, practically saying hello.”

Remembering she did not wear a bra to bed, Annabeth softly laughed at his words.

She thought about the times back in the first years of their relationship and how they were not really the couple to make remarks like that to each other, getting tongue-tied at the slightest teasing compliment. Now eight years in, they were practically in a playing field of compliments; the more they got comfortable around one another –such as walking in while Annabeth is peeing on the toilet– the more they got confident at trying to make each other feel flustered with a simple observation.

“Well, aren’t you going to greet them back?” Annabeth teased.

Percy removed his toothbrush from his mouth to reply and fixed his gaze on Annabeth’s breasts:

“Morning ladies, looking plump as ever,” he said with a quick wink.

After a short gasp, Annabeth bit her lip trying to suppress her amused smile and gave his ass a good smack. Surprised by the sudden action, Percy said, “What was that for?”

Mimicking his antics, she replied:

“Just admiring my man… Couldn’t help myself.” She turned her head to look at his ass, saying, “Hey hot stuff, looking plump as ever, I see.”

Percy nearly spurted out toothpaste all over the mirror while laughing at her to say, “IT’S NOT THE SAME THING!”, to which Annabeth replied, “SHUT UP, it is.” Then Annabeth picked up her toothbrush too and the couple continued their morning routine.

“Babe?” Percy called, after a few minutes while shaving his stubble.

“Yeah?”

“Should I get a chest wax?” Annabeth turned to look at his bare chest.

“I don’t think so. Why, is it uncomfortable for you?”

“No. No, it’s just that… You know Michael from work?”

“Yeah?”

“We were changing into our wetsuits the other day when I realized he got one, so I asked him when he did it. He said he went to the spa a couple of days back upon his girlfriend’s request, apparently; he said she liked his chest better hairless and smooth. Do you think I should get mine waxed, too?”

Her eyebrows scrunched together, Annabeth put her hand on his chest, placing it on his heart before replying:

“No, Perce, I don’t think so. Your chest hair is not excessive for me.”

“Really? I mean, it _is_ practically all over my chest. Not much on my abs though, surprisingly.”

“No, I like your chest as it is. Your body hair is not over-grown as you seem to think it is. It’s thin… and just a bit curly, surprisingly. Although, when you think of your Greek side, it actually makes sense,” Annabeth said, smiling.

She moved her hand to play with the small pendant on his chain. The small piece of jewelry only seemed to make him hotter in her eyes.

“It’s perfect. You don’t need to do anything about it. And besides, you totally have the pecs to pull it off, believe me.”

Percy returned her smile, saying, “Nice to know you’re still attracted to me.”

“Always,” she replied, before leaning in to give him a sweet kiss. A few seconds later, she pulled away realizing:

“I have shaving cream on my face, don’t I?”

“Just a little.” He wiped it away with his thumb.

“Okay, I’m going to go find some clothes for work. Meanwhile, my man needs to finish shaving his face _only,_ so he can go feed both of us… And try not to cut yourself again, okay?”

“Okay, baby. I love you.”

“I love you, too. See you in the kitchen.”

* * *

“Percy? Have you seen that white blouse I wear to work somewhere around the house? I can’t find it,” said Annabeth, entering the kitchen to find him making some eggs and toast for them.

Percy slightly turned his head in her direction to say, “Did you check the basket in front of the drier? You did some laundry yesterday, but we forgot to put them in the dresser.”

She went to check it as he said and there it was, lying on top of the pile of clothes. “Found it!” She placed it on their bed near the pants she picked and went back to the kitchen.

“Do we have coffee?” she asked.

“Yeah, just made some. Poured you a cup already.” He grabbed it to bring it to her. “There you go.”

“ _Mmm…_ Thank you.” She took a sip only to be surprised by its taste. “You really went off on the sugar with this, huh?” Annabeth said.

“What? No, I thought it was just the right amount. Let me try some,” said Percy, grabbing the cup and bringing it to his mouth. After a few seconds of thinking, he said:

“Yeah, maybe a little.”

She chuckled while rising up on her toes to peck him on his lips. He placed the cup of coffee on the counter next to him, then he gave her one back... and another, and another, and a–

“Go! You’re going to burn that toast,” said Annabeth amusingly. But she also had her arms around Percy’s neck, holding him close.

“The lady doesn’t seem to mind that much,” he said, going in for a more proper kiss. His hands on her waist were playing with the fabric of her camisole before he decided to move them a little lower to impertinently cup her ass cheeks. He started kneading them slightly, her shorts going up at the motion. Not wanting to break away, he murmured against her lips:

“ _Mmm… You’re so soft._ ”

Letting out a little moan, Annabeth kept kissing him but moved her hands from his neck and wiggled around to place them on Percy’s ass and playfully grabbed it to copy him.

Both of them unable to continue kissing and keeping a straight face, they started to giggle against each other’s lips.

“Stop…”

“You stop…”

They were smiling at each other when Annabeth gave Percy a final kiss to pull away and headed to their bedroom again to properly get ready. Percy watched her intentionally sway her hips and called her out:

“I know what you’re doing, Beth. Keep that up and you won’t be able to leave this apartment today… That’s a warning!”

“Don’t burn the toast, Seaweed Brain,” she called out from the bedroom.

* * *

The cell phones were becoming useful since someone from camp found a way to make them not attract monsters. When Percy got off early from work, he called Annabeth to ask her if she needed anything before he went home. She said she needed him to pick her up because she was going to bring a model of the building she was working on with her and she didn’t want it to get harmed on her way home. But her work wouldn’t be over for at least an hour. While he opened the door of his car, phone in hand, he said:

“Yeah, I’ll come pick you up. I had an errand to run, anyways. I’ll do that and then I’ll come and get you. Sound good?”

Annabeth responded:

“Yeah, okay. But what’s this errand you’re talking about?”

“It’s a little something I’ve asked to get done for myself. You’ll see it when we get home.”

“Consider me intrigued… Alright then. I’ll see you when you get here. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Bye.”

After a quick drive, Percy entered the little workshop he had visited upon Michael’s suggestion before going to work today. He looked around to find the man in charge, but he didn’t seem to be around, so he called out:

“Hey, Larry! You around? I’m Percy from earlier today, in the morning. You know, Michael’s friend? Percy Jackson?”

Then an old and gentle looking man came out from the back to greet Percy.

“Hey, Percy. Don’t worry, I remember you. Welcome! I’ve finished the thing you asked me to do, I’ll come get it for ya!” When he came back, he gently held it up to show Percy the intricate work he had done for him. “How’d you like it? Is it good?”

“It’s perfect Larry, thank you so much for this. I took care of the bill in the morning, right? We good?”

“Of course, son. A friend of Michael’s is a friend of mine. So, I got it done as quickly as possible for you. But I assure you, I don’t do sloppy work. So, when I say it was quick, it doesn’t mean I did not care for it. I was very delicate with it, don’t worry.”

“Yeah, I can see that. I’ll be on my way then. Thanks again, have a good day!” Percy replied and went back to his car to go to Annabeth’s office.

When he arrived there, he couldn’t find Annabeth right away; but he saw one of her co-workers that he knew from coming around the office every now and then. He walked towards the guy to greet him:

“Hey, Hassan!”

Hassan saw Percy and met him halfway, giving him a quick hug.

“Percy! Hey, man. What’s up? You here for your lady?”

“Always. Have you seen her? She asked me to pick her up.”

“Yeah, sure. She’s in the conference room, I think. By the way, huge congratulations on the engagement, man. I’m so happy for you guys.”

“Thank you, that’s really nice of you to say. But, hey, where was the conference room again?”

“Oh, it’s right over there with the big glass… walls…”

Hassan trailed off as both he and Percy saw Annabeth and who she had next to her. That rich asshole.

They were looking at what seemed to be some blueprints; or rather _Annabeth_ was looking at them while her boss was clearly ogling her chest as she leaned on the table. Hassan turned his head to find Percy furious; so, before he barged in that room and did something reckless, Hassan pulled Percy by the arm to speak to him in a low voice:

“Percy, look. We both know that guy is probably the worst boss who also happens to be a douchebag. But before you go in there to rip him apart for looking at your girl like that, think about the consequences Annabeth would face. That guy is an unforgiving son of a bitch and he’ll probably fire Annabeth if you pick a fight with him right now.”

Percy grunted angrily when he saw Annabeth’s boss tuck one of her curls behind her ear.

“So, a little piece of advice from a friend who has seen it all when it comes to this guy: don’t try to scare him with your fists. You just put a ring on that girl. Just let him know she’s spoken for. He’s already scared of you if you ask me.”

Percy let out a long exhale to try to calm his nerves. If that was what he had to do… then fine. He would show him that Annabeth was off-limits. Nobody was allowed to touch her like that except him. _No one._

Restraining himself as hard as he can, he said, “Fine,” to Hassan and walked towards the conference room.

Percy didn’t realize that he was walking like he was approaching a prey; however, practically everyone who saw him locked their gaze on him to see what he was going to do.

Another one of Annabeth’s colleagues came near Hassan and she asked, “Is he finally going to kill him?” Hassan replied: “No… He’s just going to mark his territory.”

Percy entered the room with a dangerous smile and called out to his fiancée:

“Have you wrapped up your work, Beth?”

Annabeth sighed happily and walked over to him.

She’d just told his boss that she wasn’t comfortable with him touching her hair, but the guy was still determined on invading her personal space. So, when she saw Percy, she felt relieved to find an excuse to get away from him and greet Percy instead.

“Hey, Perce. Thanks for coming to pick me up.”

When she was close enough for Percy to put his arms around her waist, he leaned in for a long brain-melting kiss. While a surprised whimper escaped Annabeth’s mouth, Percy pulled her even closer to him. Getting a hold on her hand which her ring was displayed to place it on his shoulder, he made the ring visible to her boss’ eyes.

A few whistles were heard around the office as they all watched the couple kiss passionately. Hassan murmured a quick ‘told you’ to the woman he was talking to earlier.

Although Annabeth never wanted to break away from Percy’s lips, she realized she had to before the situation got more awkward. When they pulled away from each other, Annabeth looked like a fish gasping for air. Percy held her to his chest and threw a ‘ _she is mine_ ’ look at the rich asshole’s way.

Finding her voice after a few seconds, Annabeth said, “That was one hell of a way to greet me… What’s gotten into you?” Percy returned his gaze to her to reply, “I missed you is all.”

Breaking their sweet moment, Annabeth’s boss coughed deliberately, and the couple turned to him while he spoke:

“Wow. ‘Beth’ huh? I figured if you don’t let anyone in the office call you ‘Annie’, you just didn’t like your name shortened; but it appears that we just weren’t using the _right_ nickname, after all.”

Percy responded with a voice that sent a warning:

“That’s because it’s ‘Miss Chase’ to you.”

Before the guy even attempted a comeback, Percy continued with his hand securely placed on Annabeth’s side:

“Or better yet, you should probably get more used to calling her ‘Mrs. Jackson’ from now on.” 

After a seemingly long moment of staring him down, Percy turned to Annabeth again, his voice softer this time:

“Let me help you grab your stuff, Beth. Then we’ll go home.”

Stunned –and aroused, apparently– by this Percy she was seeing, she replied with a quiet “okay” and turned to the table to grab her laptop.

When her boss made his way towards the door to exit the room without saying anything to avoid further humiliation in front of all of his employees to see, Percy sneakily moved his left foot a little towards his direction while the guy was walking past him. He tripped, barely maintaining his balance. And then, hands casually in his pockets, Percy turned his wolf gaze to him once again with the same tone of warning:

“Watch yourself.”

Probably scared shitless right about now, he sped up his movements to exit the room and likely to exit the building as well. At the sight of their boss, people in the office went back to whatever they were doing earlier to avoid being scolded.

Annabeth was looking at Percy like he was the only interesting thing around them. Her mouth slightly ajar, she watched him take the model building in his hands and gesture her to follow him.

When they got to the parking lot, Annabeth tossed everything in her hands to the backseat of his car, and Percy placed her model carefully in the trunk, then closed it.

Annabeth was still looking at him. Curious as to why, Percy slowly approached her before they got in the car and said, “Is there something wrong?” while gently brushing the backs of his fingers along her bare arm.

Annabeth was starting to get lost in his sea-green eyes when her hand found Percy’s cheek and Percy leaned into her touch at the cold feel of the ring.

They were merely a breath apart when Annabeth’s lips ghosted over Percy’s to whisper:

“Take us home, Percy.”

She did not trust herself to press her lips against his yet when they were out in the open like that.

* * *

The drive home was full of tension, ready to be cut into half. Percy held onto her hand while Annabeth’s eyes changed the direction of her gaze between their entwined hands and Percy in a vicious cycle. She watched how his eyes were locked on the road, how his Adam’s Apple was moving up and down as he occasionally swallowed, and she looked at the small glimpse of the thin chain that was exposed from his shirt’s neckline… She pressed her legs together at the sight.

When they finally arrived, all of Annabeth’s stuff was forgotten in the car in order to get into their apartment as soon as possible. Immediately after Percy closed the door behind Annabeth, she quickly turned around to slam him against it.

For a moment, they just looked at each other’s eyes and lips while breathing heavily like they had used the stairs instead of the elevator. Then, getting a tight hold on Percy’s shirt to draw him even closer to herself, Annabeth finally crashed her lips onto his.

The kiss was passionate. Demanding. _Possessive._ Percy grabbed both of her thighs to lift her up and blindly tried to find some surface to place her on as they both refused to pull away from each other.

Annabeth’s hands were everywhere now. His face, his hair, his neck… Sliding down his shirt’s neckline to trace his back muscles… Whatever she could find, she latched on to. Percy was getting impatient too as he tightened his hold on her thighs, but thankfully, he found one of the armrests of their couch and placed her on it.

Not wanting to waste any time, Annabeth insistently dragged Percy’s shirt upwards to let him know she wants it off _now_. He quickly pulled it off, unfortunately breaking off their kiss for a moment, and turned his attention to her blouse, nearly ripping it off as he relieved her from the fabric.

She returned her lips to his exposed body this time; placing open-mouthed kisses all over his hard abdomen, going lower and lower with every burning kiss. Percy was watching her, frozen. When she reached his belt, she looked up at him through her eyelashes while unbuckling it; doing wonders to his libido.

“ _Fuck,_ Beth,” said Percy, out of desperation.

She lowered his pants and boxers enough to let his erection spring free. Her eyes still locked on to his, she slowly stroked him from base to tip, watching his reaction. His mouth fell open at the sensation and he was looking at her like she was a goddess. After a few more strokes, she managed to get a good lick at him before he pushed her down the couch to pry her pants off of her.

As he threw the pants across the room somewhere and got out of his as well, Annabeth dragged down her underwear and Percy immediately placed his head between her thighs. Annabeth’s breathing grew heavy at the sight and at the feel of Percy’s own breathing against her.

He started giving quick and gentle licks to her clit and occasionally circling it with his fingers. Annabeth ran her hands through his hair as she arched her back. He swiped a finger through her folds, and it slipped in easily; Annabeth groaned at the pleasure while Percy groaned at the sounds she made.

She pulled his face back up to kiss him, letting out muffled moans. Percy continued fingering her, adding another digit until she couldn’t take it anymore and made him sit on the couch so she could straddle his hips.

“You’re still on the pill, right?” he asked breathlessly.

“Yeah,” she replied.

Looking into each other’s eyes, foreheads against one another, they both let out an exhale as Annabeth slowly slid down on Percy.

They shared sensual kisses while Annabeth tried to find a rhythm for them. Even though there weren’t really much movement –because they were intent on kissing the breath out of each other at the moment– every single part of their bodies felt on fire.

Percy reached behind her back to unclasp her bra and then threw it behind his back; focusing on worshipping Annabeth’s chest. She moaned loudly at the contact of Percy’s tongue on one of her nipples and his hand on the other, kneading her flesh meticulously.

She rested her arms on top of the couch near each side of Percy’s head and pressed her chest closer to him. Just as she did, they managed to get in a good rhythm; and Annabeth began riding him and grinding on him while making all those noises and just– _gods!_

 _“Annabeth!”_ Percy let out desperately. He grabbed a hold of her ass cheeks and squeezed them, trying to concentrate on not letting go so easily; but she really wasn’t making this easy for him.

Gradually speeding up, she buried her head in Percy’s neck with her whimpers and hot breath close against his ear; saying his name like it’s her favorite prayer:

_“Percy… Percy…”_

Taking advantage of the position, Percy hugged her tightly as he nipped at her neck and smoothed every bite with the help of his tongue.

She lifted her head after a few moments; her mouth open to try to catch her breath, she looked at Percy like she was trying to burn her gaze onto him. Her ponytail was long gone from its proper look, it was moving around as a result of their movement. She leaned down to kiss him, but she was moving too fast to latch on to his lips.

 _“Beth, slow–… slow down. I can’t hold it if you–_ ugh,” he whispered against her lips.

 _“Then don’t,”_ she said, earning another groan from him.

_“Baby, please…”_

Determined on making him lose his edge, she bit his lower lip to shut him up. But instead of listening to her, he slightly lifted her off of him and replaced his erection by delving deep into her with his fingers.

He tried to regain his breath as he kept her occupied. He rested his head against her chest and just listened to the sounds she let escape from her mouth.

When he finally felt ready, he lifted his head to look at her face, his chin still on her chest, only to find her eyes closed as she enjoyed his thumb on her clit. He lifted his free hand to trace her open lips and Annabeth opened her eyes to watch him. Then, Percy lowered her hips onto his and slipped into her once again, making her gasp loudly at the sudden action. But he wouldn’t let her have the reins this time; as he held her ass tightly to limit her movements and to thrust into her himself.

 _“Percy!”_ she yelped.

Percy latched on to one of her nipples and sucked on it as he watched her slowly lose control. With his every thrust her breath quickened a little more and her voice was lost as she couldn’t even bring herself to let out a sound. She hooked her thumb around Percy’s chain and placed that hand on his cheek, desperately dragging her nails across his shoulders and chest with the other. Percy picked up his speed when he hit a spot that had her moaning loudly as she found her voice back.

“Percy, please… _I’m so close baby, please…_ ” she whimpered as she pulled his head close to hers to rest her forehead on his. He started to thrust less quickly but harder into her, knowing that would finally untie the knot inside her. With every thrust, Annabeth let out higher-pitched whimpers and then a final one:

_“AHHH!”_

Percy groaned loudly at the sound and the sight of her quivering body. Feeling her walls clench around him tight, hot, and wet with her climax; he let go with the gorgeous woman falling on top of him.

Both bodies out of breath, they listened to each other’s hearts racing against one another as they came down from their high. Their faces were buried in each other’s necks and they placed soft kisses to every patch of skin their lips could find.

Percy slowly pulled out of her but didn’t let her go. He hugged her as he murmured against her ear:

“You really tried to go at me there, huh? _What’s gotten into you?_ ” he said, mimicking the last sentence from her earlier in her office.

Annabeth chuckled as she turned to look at him. Her hand smoothed his hair while she spoke softly:

“Just you. It’s always just you, really.”

Percy leaned in to give her a slow and proper kiss. When she pulled away, Annabeth said:

“I feel like I should hate it but, when you get _just_ the right amount of that possessiveness inside of you to come out… I don’t know, it’s like I have this unbearable urge to immediately jump you where you stand.”

Percy softly laughed at her while kissing her lips once again.

“Well, I’m really, _really glad_ that you feel that way, considering how it all turned out like this,” he said smiling. “I honestly thought you were going to rip me a new one when we got home.”

Annabeth laughed just like him while caressing his face lovingly. Then she remembered:

“What was that errand you talked about on the phone?”

Percy held the tiny ocean blue pendant at the tip of his chain to show her the newly engraved ‘A’ letter on it. It looked so delicate with its calligraphic writing. Annabeth let out a deep sigh.

_“Percy…”_

Before she could continue, he explained softly:

“I felt like it wasn’t fair to just have you carry a symbol of commitment; and you always said you liked this chain, so I decided to turn it into a symbol of commitment as well… It’s not as subtle as yours, which is disappointing, really, but it looks better on me this way, don’t you think?”

Annabeth slightly parted her lips as if to say something but decided against it and placed them on his instead. She tried to pour everything she was feeling into the kiss; love, appreciation, happiness…

“I love you. So much,” she said against his lips.

“I love you even more,” Percy replied.

He gave her one last sweet kiss before she pulled him off the couch and said, “Come on. Let’s get cleaned up, Seaweed Brain.” He followed her to the shower.

“By the way, although it was nice enough, what we did just now... doesn’t count as the birthday present I wanted from you yesterday,” Annabeth said.

Percy jokingly made a surprised face at her.

“ _What?_ How is that even possible? You were moaning like crazy back there.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Don’t you dare deny it, Wise Girl.”

“Okay! But that was just _one_ orgasm. I expected more from you.”

“There was a time when you were happy with one orgasm. When did you become an insatiable woman like this?”

“When I discovered your potential, of course.”

“ _Ahh, that’s right._ Well… Give me some water to power up and I’ll be good to go at it again, babe.”

Annabeth laughed but she wasn’t sure if that was a joke or not.

“Believe me, I would love to… but I’m spent. Let’s just clean ourselves up and get takeout. Then I’m headed straight to sleep.”

Percy poured some shampoo in his hand to massage Annabeth’s scalp under the hot water before saying with a smile:

“Whatever my lady desires.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a week since I posted the first chapter of this story but I'm afraid it's because I'm neck-deep in assignments and online exams. I'll try to write whenever I get a chance to, but I can't say how long it's gonna take. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter in the comments, it would definitely fuel me to write more whether it's positive or not. You can always come to chat with me on Tumblr, this is me right here: @getwokescullyy If you enjoyed reading this, feel free to leave a small Kudos for me as well.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything has been sunshine and butterflies since Percy and Annabeth got engaged two days ago, but they forgot about one not-so-little thing before they did. And now, they need to cut a deal as Annabeth comes face to face with Percy being taken away from her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is, in large part, Teen and Up because it's mainly emotional and fluffy and probably has the least sexual implications in it - like, one small thing - and this time, it is providing some hurt/comfort parts for the lovely readers.

After a few good minutes of rummaging through the closet, Annabeth finally found that comfortable red t-shirt of Percy’s that she loved to wear to bed. Percy was already in bed, going through… whatever he was going through on his phone while Annabeth was changing.

He seemed so focused on the screen that Annabeth wondered what it was, and she was keen to find out. She pulled on some shorts and slid into bed next to Percy. He naturally lifted one arm for her to fit under. Getting into a position to snuggle, she laid her head on his bare chest to ask:

“What’s got you so focused on that screen?”

As she took a quick look, Annabeth saw that he was scrolling through a wedding planning site. Percy replied to her:

“Just trying to have some ideas on how we should go about planning our wedding. It seems like it’s going to cost a certain amount of money, but I have some savings that _should_ help us afford all the essential stuff.”

Annabeth’s heart swelled as she looked up from his chest to marvel at him.

“Are you trying to make me fall in love with you all over again?”

Percy bashfully looked up at the ceiling to not meet her gaze, trying to contain the grin that crept upon his face.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

Lazily drawing different types of shapes on his chest with her fingers which Percy returned with his own on her arm, Annabeth said:

“Let me put it this way. You, Percy Jackson, are telling me that you are _uncharacteristically_ trying to learn how to _plan_ a wedding and you’re saying that you have _saved up money..._ and you expect me to act like this is very much a normal thing for you?”

She was grinning at him as she finished her sentence. But her facial expression probably did not even come close to displaying what she was feeling right now. She had a giddy and childish feeling in her stomach which was hard to contain. A surprising happiness suddenly blooming inside her, because she knew he was doing this for her.

“Well, as I have heard –we were probably in college back then– this wedding stuff can become overwhelmingly expensive. So, as soon as I started to earn some money, I decided to save some here and there every month so that if the time ever came, it would help us afford all those things, you know?”

Annabeth smiled beamingly as she leaned in to place a kiss on his jaw to make him meet her gaze. She rubbed their noses affectionately before she spoke:

“You are way smarter than you know, and this is probably one of the most thoughtful things you’ve ever done for me. I love that you even thought about this in advance. Thank you.”

Percy caught her lips for a sweet kiss and pulled away after a good few seconds to reply:

“Of course. It’s for us. And as soon as I can save up some more, I want to find a bigger place for us to live in. This apartment has been nice to us but if I’m not so bold to assume, we should probably have some more space for… you know, _any further additions._ ”

He couldn’t help but utter his last words with a big grin on his face. Annabeth grinned back as well, but before they could dive into the matter a bit more, she remembered something about the bigger place _she_ also fantasized about.

“Percy, do you remember that time I told you that I wanted to build a town for Greek demigods just like New Rome?”

“Which will probably be called ‘New Athens’? Yeah, I remember.”

“You don’t know what I’m going to call it yet.”

“I mean, it seems only fair that you call it as such.”

“ _Anyway,_ I already have some early drafts for it as you know, but there is one particular _house_ that I want to build in it which is the only thing that's already completed at the moment.”

Percy’s eyes seemed to light up as he slowly came to understand what she was saying.

“You designed a house for us?”

“Yeah… I did. And I was hoping to build it by the time something like this happened, but I never actually got a chance to start. Plus, I knew we would need a cleared space for it and again, _money,_ so I was also preparing for when the time came. Considering the recent events, what do you say about getting on that first before the wedding?”

To be honest, Percy was already sold on the idea; but he still wanted to make sure that this was what she wanted.

“I mean, I figured we would be married in a few months’ time but if that’s what you want to do first… I’m down. I would love to. I know it will be much better than a random house we can buy because it will be from scratch and we can build it however we like. I trust the architect,” Annabeth laughed softly between his words, and he continued, “but it will likely postpone the wedding to a much later date if we decide to go with this. I’m guessing it’s not exactly as easy as building a cabin so it will take a long time. Would you be okay with that?”

“Yeah, I would… As long as we’re together, right?”

Percy hugged Annabeth and placed a kiss on top of her head.

“That’s right.”

Annabeth settled on his chest, and as she played with the small pendant of his chain, she returned his kiss on the skin near her lips.

“Let’s sleep. I’m tired.”

“Do you want me to turn off the lights?”

“No, I got it.”

Annabeth got up to turn them off and went back to bed. She faced the opposite side and waited for Percy’s arm to wrap around her torso. But when his arm reached her body, his hand settled on a more _specific_ place.

“Seaweed Brain?”

“Hmm?”

“I _just_ told you I’m tired merely seconds ago.”

“Yeah, and we’re sleeping.”

“Your hand seems to not get the memo.”

“My hand is comfortable where it’s placed.”

“ _Your hand_ is under my shirt.”

“This shirt is mine, babe.”

Annabeth loudly exhaled through her nose.

“Percy, I’m not having sex with you. Take your hand off my tit.”

Percy let out a sound of disapproval.

“Why do you automatically assume that I want to have sex with you? I just wanted to get in a comfortable position to sleep; I’m not having sex with you either.”

“Your idea of a comfortable position to sleep is having your hand cup my bare tits?”

“They’re soft, okay?”

“No, not okay. I’m removing it.”

“NO!”

“ _Percy…_ How is that comfortable for both of us?”

“I’m barely holding it, I won’t make you uncomfortable, I promise. Please, it just fits perfectly in my palm and it’s _so soft._ ”

Annabeth laughed at his insistence.

“But it’s _weird,_ Percy!”

Percy nuzzled against her neck and softly murmured:

“Just let me stay like this for a while and if you can’t fall asleep, I’ll remove my hand.”

A bit amused but still annoyed, Annabeth put her hand on top of his as well.

“Ugh, _fine._ You’re impossible.”

“I love you too.”

* * *

Despite Annabeth’s rejection at first, she didn’t need to remove his hand as they both managed to fall asleep into a deep slumber. However, they must have changed their position in their sleep as Percy was lying on his stomach later in the night. But his was not a peaceful slumber, it seemed.

His hands were clutching hard at his pillow and his breathing was becoming shallower by the second. Then he woke up violently, waking up Annabeth as well, yelling:

“DON’T TOUCH HER!”

Annabeth bolted immediately to find Percy search around for her.

“ANNABETH?”

He was breathing like he just fought a hundred monsters and when Annabeth hugged his back trying to calm him down, he called out once more to make sure it was her.

“Annabeth?”

She let him know it was her with a soft voice.

“It’s me, I’m here. I’m here, Percy… It’s okay, baby, it was a dream. We’re safe, you just woke up from a dream.”

She glued her lips to his shoulder, hoping it would help him calm down. “We’re safe.”

Although he was no longer as frantic as he was, Percy was not convinced that it was just a dream; it’s _never_ just a dream when you’re a demigod. He put his arm in front of Annabeth’s body as if he was hiding her with his. He felt an ambiguous danger around them and a desperate need to protect her from it. But protect her from what?

“Something’s coming… or _someone,_ ” said Percy.

Annabeth looked at the open door of their bedroom behind Percy’s shoulders which were getting tenser by the second. After a few moments of excruciating silence, they were met with a glimpse of colorful feathers.

As the feathers became more visible, Annabeth already started to add the pieces together and urged Percy to switch places in a hurried panic:

_“Percy, get behind me NOW.”_

But he didn’t budge and called out, “Show yourself!”

A peacock with the most majestic feathers walked into the room.

“No. _No._ Don’t come any closer,” said Annabeth.

“This is how you greet the queen of Olympus, daughter of Athena?” said Hera, after transforming into her human form. Percy grabbed Annabeth’s hand the second he became aware of what was going on.

“Relax, Perseus. Even though I am very much irritated by these new tradition-breaking habits of mortals… I am not here to berate you on _that_ matter.”

Percy became aware of his current state of half-nakedness and carefully got up to pick up a shirt, Annabeth following after him to not leave his side – Hera was _not_ going to touch Percy. As they laced hands, Hera continued:

“You picked up the ring from Aphrodite, prayed to Athena for _months,_ prayed to Aphrodite too before getting betrothed… So, let me ask you, son of Poseidon… How _dare_ you ignore the one goddess that you were _supposed to_ go to when you decided to marry?! _Have you no respect?!_ ”

Annabeth interrupted her to take her focus away from Percy.

“Oh, we are _terribly_ sorry, your majesty. Please forgive our _stupidity,_ we’re just mere mortals after all; we have never _saved the world_ for you or anything like that, especially not _twice_. And I’m sure Percy had his _reasons_ when he did such a _horrendous_ mistake. But they were probably short-sighted because we’re not almighty like yourself.”

Percy thought Annabeth may have overdone her speech, seeing Hera slowly walking towards them with a daring fury burning in her eyes. _Literally._

“You better watch that tone of yours, half-blood, or there will be _hell_ to befall on you.”

“Wouldn’t be my first time, _your majesty._ Except it didn’t befall on me. _I_ fell _in_ hell to help save the gods, and that includes you.”

 _“Annabeth…”_ Percy warned cautiously.

“ _You ignorant fool._ Do you think I would hesitate to punish you right here, right now? Try getting married without having my blessing – even if it’s not the son of Poseidon and someone else – and I will _curse_ that union so that you would never find the family you crave so badly. Or better yet…” Hera came even closer to them and Annabeth took a few steps back taking Percy with her, shielding him from Hera with bated breath.

“I can always take your beloved away from you once again… _And for good this time._ ”

Her eyes tearing up from fear, Annabeth’s arrogant attitude and confident manner started to crack at the thought of losing Percy. But – although with a broken voice – she still resisted in her words:

“I won’t let you have him. I won’t let you take him away from me. _Not this time._ ”

Percy’s right arm wrapped around Annabeth’s torso, drawing her closer to him as he spoke.

“Don’t do this Lady Hera. We have sacrificed everything for the gods. We fought with every ounce of our beings in not one but _two_ of the biggest wars to save the world.”

Hera turned her face to him furiously. _“Yet you still have the nerve to ignore your gods.”_

“All you were expected to show was a little respect! I ought to separate you two _right now_ than to have your union laugh at my face; _belittling_ me in front of all Olympus to see.”

Just when Hera was about to spiral out of control, Annabeth decided to strike a deal.

“You said you were irritated… by how humans changed their traditions when it comes to relationships and marriage, right? How long has it been since two heroes of Olympus decided to join in holy matrimony before the gods? How long has it been since you felt the _power_ their union provided you? Surely the current state of weak mortal marriages has left you unsatisfied… When was the last time? Odysseus and Penelope?”

Hera’s voice dropped down just a bit in volume. Nevertheless, she answered sternly. Her distaste for Annabeth was still as visible as a clear day.

“You still think you’re better than everyone, don’t you, daughter of Athena? Even at being a wife? You have no clue about being a good wife. You have no idea how _hard_ it is to build a family and _sticking_ with them. So, let me ask you this. When was the last time _you_ had a family and you stuck with them through thick and thin? And do you really think you can be as _faithful_ as Penelope was; despite assuming that her husband was _dead?_ ”

Putting her hand on top of Percy’s arm that was wrapped around her to draw some strength from him, Annabeth answered back to the goddess of marriage and family.

“You’re right. I didn’t even have a family to hold on to. I couldn’t seem to fit in a family of my own, no matter how hard I tried. It was as if I was a broken puzzle piece trying to mend itself to be a part of something. It always felt like something had to be wrong with me to not have that… But… I _don’t_ have to mend myself to fit next to him. I’m already perfectly in place. And so is Percy next to _me._ We both have been faithful to each other after all these years, even when you took him away and I thought he was gone. _Penelope_ may have stayed faithful to her husband, but you can’t say the same about Odysseus; Percy is _nothing_ like him.”

She thought about bringing up _her own_ husband’s unfaithfulness, but she figured Zeus and his _conquests_ would be no use for her even though it was the perfect point for her argument. As much as Annabeth hated the goddess; if fighting with her was going to cost her Percy… She would refrain from getting her angrier than she already was. But Hera never made any promises to hold back on taunting Annabeth herself.

“Is he really? He may have stayed true to you while I put him in slumber and then sent him to the Romans; but before that, he _did_ visit the island of Calypso just like Odysseus… How do you know what happened between them in that time he stayed in Ogygia? He never told you.”

“Just because we never talked about it doesn’t mean I got involved with Calypso,” Percy interrupted. But the goddess continued:

“Then why did she curse Annabeth after you left the island? You remember the _arai_ , don’t you, daughter of Athena?”

Annabeth grew pale as her mind went back to the moment she and Percy encountered them in Tartarus.

After all these years, she was still mad. No matter what anyone may tell her about Calypso, and how a nice person she actually is, Annabeth was not going to change her mind about her. Maybe Calypso didn’t know it, but her curse was more devastating than any other wound Annabeth had received in Tartarus or anywhere else. The thought of losing Percy in itself was already painful, but the thought of Percy _leaving her…_ She held on to his arm even tighter in order to not break down in front of Hera.

“Even though Annabeth and I didn’t have anything official back then, Calypso still knew that I had someone weighing on my heart whenever she tried to get close to me. I had to leave Ogygia to go back to my friends and Annabeth, so I didn’t return her feelings and that’s exactly why she cursed her. We’re faithful to each other; and no matter where we are, we’ll still be faithful to each other whether you separate us or not,” said Percy.

“But she only had to wait for you for just eight months when you were with the Romans. Do you really think she would’ve still waited for your return after _twenty years_ as Penelope did; since she is so foolishly implying that she could? How typical of her.”

Percy replied to Hera’s words without a second thought:

“No. She wouldn’t _wait_ for me as Penelope did for Odysseus, because Annabeth is _not_ Penelope. She wouldn’t wait around. She would get up and _search_ for me, just like she did in those eight months until she finally found me. Maybe if Penelope were to do the same, she wouldn’t have to wait for twenty years.”

Percy felt the need to defend his fiancée and he was getting angry now; he knew the goddess was prying into their relationship just to goad Annabeth into thinking all the wrong things. But he also knew that all this talk would probably create a need for him and Annabeth to have a conversation later.

“Our union would be much stronger, and you _know_ it. This is a chance for you to _gain_ power, not lose it.”

Shoving all those awful thoughts Hera made her think in the back of her mind, Annabeth tried to concentrate on winning their argument with her.

“You always strive for a perfect family. What better way to display it than to have a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena join hands in marriage; ending the thousands of years-long feud between our godly parents?”

Hera stepped back to walk around in Percy and Annabeth’s small bedroom as she thought about what move to make.

“Although we don’t see eye to eye when it comes to many things; I must admit that I would benefit greatly from such union as the two of you would make. Perseus has already proved himself that he might just be the most powerful among your kind in many years. And I sincerely did not think that you would manage to be the first child of Athena who retrieved the Athena Parthenos, Annabeth Chase…”

“…among countless other impressive stuff that she has done,” Percy interrupted. But Hera gave him one of her nasty looks that said, ‘do not interrupt me’ and continued.

“ _I was not convinced…_ and I thought you wouldn’t be able to carry out your part in the prophecy. You exceeded my expectations, however, and showed that you can be valuable.”

Hera was silent for a moment that felt like hours to the two demigods, and she stared deeply at them before making her offer.

“ _I might be persuaded_ to let go of our past disagreements and to give you my blessing, but I need to see that you are willing to right your wrongs and to never repeat them again.”

Hera stopped her pacing to stand directly in front of them.

“In the old times when mortals were not as ignorant as they are today, people would shower me with prayers in the temples they have built in my name, and they would give many offerings in order to win my blessing for a long and happy marriage. They would come to _me_ to help them build a family of their own… I can provide you the same help, but I must also be shown the same _diligence_ of what the Ancient Greeks have shown me in those days. You both have to pray to me and burn offerings for me daily until the day of your wedding ceremony… Especially _you,_ daughter of Athena. And there’s always room for renovations for my symbolic cabin in Camp Half-Blood. The current thing is very inattentively built, I’m afraid. I do think this is a more generous offer than you deserve.”

Annabeth was not really amused as Hera was, but Percy encouraged her to accept it as he whispered in her ear, “Let’s not push this more than we need to. It’s a small price to pay considering our current options.”

But if Annabeth was going to need to let go of her past grudges against the goddess, she was going to need a bit more encouragement from her. She tried to pick her words carefully and seem sincere in them as she spoke:

“Thank you for this kind offer, your majesty. We are, of course, willing to accept it, but… In order for us to present the perfect image of a family and marriage – so that all the gods and mortals alike would witness your power – we would also need a perfect home to build it in, don’t you think so? A house that would be protected by your blessing so everyone would see that the goddess of family still provides for her followers… Now, I already have a design that's ready to be built; and the only thing we would need is a little aid from Olympus in building it; it would only add to your power and influence among the gods… Right, Percy?”

“…huh? Oh, yeah. _Totally._ That would be a serious display of mightiness if you ask me.”

“That just might be so…” said Hera. “Alright then. If it’s going to mean more power for me, I accept. I’ll still be watching you, but I must leave now.”

“Wait,” said Annabeth, remembering to make sure of _one more thing…_

“You’re testing my patience, daughter of Athena.”

“No, just– one more thing, before you leave?”

“And what might that be?”

Annabeth swallowed before opening her mouth again. She hoped she wasn’t pushing the limits more than she already had.

“A perfect image of a family blessed by the queen of Olympus herself… would also need _children_. Promise me that you won’t keep us from having them… _Please…_ ”

All these years, she hoped she would never have to beg to Hera for anything. But she didn’t think she and Percy would make it this far. To have kids of her own… and with Percy… it felt like a heavenly dream. And she was determined to make it come true someday.

Turning slowly, the goddess looked at Annabeth behind her shoulder and said:

“We’ll see… Find me when the time comes. _Don’t_ make the same mistake of ignoring me again or I’ll make you regret it.”

Having said her last words, Hera left their apartment leaving a beam of light behind her.

For a few minutes, Percy and Annabeth were frozen at where they stood. Then, a sharp whimper escaped Annabeth’s mouth as she quickly turned around to clutch at her fiancée’s body.

Her head safely in place in the crook of his neck, she was shaking with sobs as she held on to him tightly. Percy returned her embrace just as tight as he tried his best to not break down along with her while listening to her cries.

“She – she was going to… take you away. Percy, she was going to – _take you away. Away from me… again…_ ”

Her muffled words vibrated on his skin and he had to look up at the ceiling for a moment to keep the tears that threatened to flow down his cheeks. He gathered himself and lowered his mouth near her ear and whispered:

“It’s okay. I’m here. I’m here, Wise Girl… We’re okay. We’re together… She can’t keep me away from you, you hear me? I’ll always find my way.” He cupped her cheeks and rested his forehead against hers. “Even if I have to walk through hell again, I’ll always find my way back to you… But we have nothing to be afraid of right now. We convinced her. And we have a long life ahead of us. _Together._ ”

Annabeth nodded slightly before Percy led her to the edge of their bed and sat down, placing her in his lap. Facing him sideways, she wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed in his familiar scent. Percy held her and rubbed her back while pressing his lips on her hair and closing his eyes; the smell of her hair comforting him as he tried to do the same for her.

After a while, she took a deep breath and let it out as she felt calmer. She delved her fingers in Percy’s hair and kissed the back of his neck while keeping her eyes closed.

“Do you want to go back to sleep?” Percy asked.

“I can’t,” said Annabeth.

“Then… would you like to show me the house you designed for us?”

Annabeth lifted her head to look at his face. She was met with a pair of affectionate sea-green eyes.

“Can you show me the blueprints and help me picture it?” Annabeth nodded in reply.

“Yeah? Let’s go and find them then. Come on.”

They looked at them all through the night or what was left of it, really. Percy joked that there weren’t enough bedrooms for their ten kids and managed to make Annabeth laugh a little.

They decided to call in sick in the morning and go to Sally’s for breakfast; both to celebrate Annabeth’s birthday and to break the news. Percy further suggested that they should take the keys to the cabin in Montauk from his mom and spend their weekend there, as they were left frightened by what happened in their apartment.

Annabeth agreed. They needed to clear their heads and it was not going to happen when the memory of their conversation with Hera in this apartment was still fresh.

* * *

When the clock hit a reasonable time for Percy to call his mom, they asked if they could come by and have breakfast together and she happily agreed. When they arrived at Sally’s place, the seven-year-old Estelle excitedly opened the door to let them in but ignored her brother’s open arms to fling herself at Annabeth instead.

“What? Excuse me? Hello? Didn’t you see your big brother with open arms, waiting for you to hug him? What’s this supposed to mean?” Percy complained.

“Don’t be jealous because Stel likes me more than you. This isn’t a new thing, it’s a known fact.”

She picked up Estelle as she wrapped her arms around Annabeth’s neck.

“Happy birthday, Annabeth,” she said with that cutest smile on her face.

“Thank you, my little angel! Oh, I missed you so much!” She hugged Estelle and stuck her tongue out to Percy. Feeling defeated, he got up from where he kneeled and opened his arms again to ask if he can take her from Annabeth’s arms this time.

“Can you come greet _me_ now?” said Percy. Estelle switched to Percy and let go of Annabeth.

“Hi, Percy!”

“Hello, you little traitor. What, are we betraying our brothers now? Did you not miss me, is that it?”

“ _No,_ I missed you!”

“Then why did you hug Annabeth first?”

“ _Because…_ it’s her birthday!”

“Lies. You love her more than me, I know it.”

“She loves both of you, stop bickering,” said Sally as she came to greet them as well.

“Hi, Sally!” Annabeth turned to hug her, and Sally happily returned it.

“Hi, sweetheart! Happy birthday! Oh, how I missed you!”

“Really, mom? You too? When have I become the second choice in hugs?”

Sally let go of Annabeth and Estelle took her inside as Percy received his hug from his mom.

“Come here you big baby, I missed you too.”

“Where’s Paul?” Percy asked.

“He’s in the kitchen, making sure the pancakes don’t burn.”

“Blue ones?”

“When have I disappointed you?”

“ _Ugh,_ I love you.”

Sally chuckled at her son. “I love you too. Come on in, honey.”

When Percy entered the kitchen to greet Paul as well, Annabeth was there chatting with him about how Percy would never get tired of blue pancakes.

“Why would I? They’re delicious.”

Paul turned to see Percy. “I see you caught us gossiping about you already.” He laughed as he walked towards his stepson to give him a hug. “Hey, Percy. How have you been?”

“Pretty good. How are things with you guys?”

“Oh, you know. The usual. Summer break has been fun so far, don’t you think Sally?” Sally came into the kitchen as well to continue watching the pancakes.

“It really has been. What do you think, Estelle? Has it been fun for you, honey?” Estelle came closer to Sally and hugged her legs. “Yes, mommy.”

Percy went next to Annabeth who was leaning on the doorframe and hugged her from behind as he watched his sister with his mom and grinned at them, hoping to see a similar picture one day with Annabeth and their own child. Then Sally turned to them once again while picking the last pancake from the pan and placing it on top of her batch.

“It feels like it’s been so long since we last saw you two, though. We really missed you. We should definitely be doing this more often; although, preferably on weekends. Let’s not encourage Percy to call in sick more than he has to.” They all laughed while Percy rolled his eyes and tightened his hold on Annabeth’s waist. “So, what’s up? How has been life treating you two? Anything we’ve missed?”

Annabeth looked at Percy with an expression that said, ‘Should I do it or do you want to?’ and Percy gestured for her to go ahead. She just said, “Maybe…” and slowly raised her hand for everyone to see the ring.

Both Sally and Paul stood shocked for a second, but Sally quickly recovered and moved towards them.

“Oh, my goodness… Are you–”

“Yeah,” said Annabeth smiling giddily.

Sally wrapped her arms around both and congratulated them. “I can’t even begin to describe how happy I am for you two right now.” Paul came near and congratulated them as well while Estelle stood in the middle of the kitchen trying to understand what was happening.

Sally jokingly slapped Percy’s arm before breaking their hug.

“Why didn’t you ask her sooner?”

“ _Ow!_ Seriously, when did Annabeth become the favorite one in this house?”

Annabeth laughed at his fake pain before switching her focus to Sally again. Sally took her hands in hers and said, “I will finally _officially_ get to call you my daughter, now. This is such great news!”

Even though Annabeth knew after eight years of dating Percy that Sally saw her as a daughter, and they had a close relationship – especially after Percy went missing – she still felt like tearing up at her words. Annabeth also thought of her as a mother figure in her life, seeing as her own mother did not really fit that role while being a goddess.

“Oh, and Annabeth will probably beat me up for saying this but… Permission to call her Mrs. Jackson as well?” Percy asked as he received another slap on his other arm – from Annabeth this time.

“ _OW!_ Stop hitting me back and forth, will you?”

Sally laughed at his son and cupped her future daughter-in-law’s cheeks lovingly, saying, “Permission _gladly_ granted.” They hugged each other one more time as Annabeth said ‘thank you’ to Sally, and Estelle finally decided to interrupt.

“I don’t understand, what’s going on?”

They all laughed at her cluelessness as Sally explained the situation. “Your brother and Annabeth are getting married, sweetie!” Estelle started to jump up and down with excitement.

“YAY! Am I your sister now, too?” Annabeth walked over to her to give her a hug.

“I mean, I always thought of you as one so, yeah, if you want to.”

“Annabeth is my sister now!” Everyone laughed and Percy kept joking around.

“ _Ugh…_ that made it worse. My fiancée just stole my sister.”

“Shut up, Seaweed Brain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this can be a nice distraction in these dark and awful times we're experiencing. Please stay safe and keep yourselves up to date about what's going on in the world. If you don't understand people's current frustration with justice not being served - please educate yourself on it.
> 
> As always, you can come chat with me on tumblr. This is me right here: @getwokescullyy
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. If you did, don't be shy to comment (i love comments) or leave a Kudos for me as well.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sally and Estelle give Annabeth a birthday present that she will tease Percy forever about. After the breakfast at Sally's, Percy and Annabeth head out to CHB to share the news of their engagement and to celebrate her birthday. They are planning to spend the Friday night there with plans of going to Montauk the next day. They catch up with friends, Piper fills them in on what they have missed, and... there are questions that need to be answered. 
> 
> Even though this is an E rated fanfic overall, this chapter goes along the lines of being between T rated and M rated (for just implied adult content).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured I would use my favourite girl's birthday to end this annoying hiatus, so here we are with the long-awaited chapter. A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANNABETH CHASE! The absolute legend! My all-time favourite deserves nothing but the best.
> 
> This is Annabeth's Birthday, Part... 2? The celebration started in the previous chapter, so yeah. And I can't believe it, but we'll continue on with Part 3 of this in Chapter 5. It feels like I'm trying to milk her birthday for this fic. Sooo many cute moments in this chapter, you guys. It's literally reeking of percabeth and I love to write it.
> 
> Thank you for sticking with this story so far. Seeing that 100 Kudos made my day and gave me the strength to finish writing this chapter. 
> 
> Warnings for a few swearing and implied sexual content. As always, please beware.
> 
> There are two songs mentioned with lyrics that I do not own. Check them out while you're reading, they're both beautiful. The chapter somehow took a turn for a song-fic kind of style in those scenes, I don't know what to tell you tbh.

Annabeth always liked the atmosphere of Jackson-Blofis household; she liked the warmth it sent through her body. The place was no white picket fence kind of thing, it was an apartment after all; an average New York apartment like Percy and hers, but you know.

She knew it would be such a cliché thing to say if she said it was the people living in the apartment who made her feel that way… but it kind of was. She wasn’t sure whether it was because of the connection Percy provided or not, but this place and its occupants made her feel at ease; like how she always felt when she was in Camp Half-Blood.

Also, even if it’s not as much as Percy, she had many memories here. For starters, she and Sally cried together right there on that couch in those months when Percy went missing… _Okay_ , that was a pretty self-deprecating memory, but the ones that came later were not.

Their senior year of high school was spent largely inside these walls even though Annabeth did not officially live with them. She attended the same school with Percy, but she stayed at a private dorm. However, practically every weekend was a sleepover at Sally’s. Although she didn’t want to bother them after Estelle was born and the sleepovers were cut short for a month or so. Percy insisted she wasn’t intruding, but Annabeth figured having a new-born to look after was already as hard a job as it could get, and she thought Sally didn’t have the former luxury of having a regular guest at home.

Then one day, when Annabeth just came to drop something off for Percy, Sally asked her why she didn’t stay over anymore. Annabeth tried to explain that she didn’t want to be a burden, but Sally was having none of it. “Are you kidding? Honey, with a new-born or not, you know I love having you around the house. We all do,” she said. “I mean, yeah, the place has been a little chaotic recently, but…”

“Sally, no, that is _never_ an issue. You got two guys and one fresh-out-of-the-oven baby living in here which you just _pushed out of your body_. So, if you’re talking about the daily mess, it’s understandable and I’m the last person that can judge you on the matter, believe me.”

“Then come over whenever you like so you can keep me company when the testosterone in the house becomes more than I can tolerate,” said Sally, amusingly. “And you’ve been so good with Estelle from the moment you first held her at the hospital; it makes my heart full whenever I see you and Percy taking care of her.” Annabeth blushed at Sally’s compliment and its subtext. “Plus, Percy becomes another level of gentleman whenever you’re around which is always entertaining to watch,” Sally added.

“He does?”

“Yeah, he tries to tidy up a little bit, helicopters around you to make sure you’re comfortable, helps _me_ around the house more than usual… and that time he learned my cookie recipe? He was just showing off, trying to impress you. It’s really cute.”

From then on, Annabeth was around more, and she babysat Estelle countless times with Percy. They probably heard things like, “It’s good that you’re getting some practice,” from Sally more than once. She knew just how to tease them.

* * *

“Mommy, can I bring it now?”

“ _Okay,_ Stella. Go bring it, honey.”

Estelle left the breakfast table excitedly to run towards her bedroom.

“What’s she bringing, mom?” Percy asked.

“You’ll see.”

She came back jumping around with a wrapped-up gift in hand… was it a book, maybe? She stopped next to Annabeth’s chair, holding the gift up and looking up at her. Annabeth made a surprised face at her and asked, “Is this for me?” Estelle nodded and said, _“Open it!”_

When Percy saw what the gift was, he looked away and fidgeted in his chair uncomfortably.

“Wait a second… I remember this!” said Annabeth. “I lost my copy of this photo years ago. I don’t think this is the one I lost though; it can’t be. Stella, where did you find this?”

Sally replied, “We were cleaning up the house together, you know, trying to get rid of some clutter. But Stella apparently went too deep in my wardrobe and found a memory box that I’ve been keeping for many years now.”

“But how did this get there?” asked Annabeth.

“Mom…” Percy tried to complain.

Next to Percy, Paul was enjoying the moment, saying, “This should be fun.”

“Remember when Percy and Tyson were… _having difficulties_ with some Laistrygonians at their school and you got them out and took them to camp?” Sally asked Annabeth. Estelle was still too little to hear about gods and monsters, so they censored those kinds of things around her. There was a possibility of her being able to see through the Mist, but so far there weren’t any signs of it.

“I didn’t know you knew the details of that, but yeah, I remember.”

“Well, after that situation went down, the school called to inform me of it, and they asked me to come and empty Percy’s locker…”

“Oh, gods…” Percy had a palm on his face, not daring to look at Annabeth.

“Hold on… Are you telling me that you found this picture in Percy’s seventh-grade locker?” Annabeth started to put the pieces together now.

“I took one of his notebooks, but then it slipped from my hand and dropped on the ground. When I kneeled down to pick it up, there was also this picture next to it which was probably inside the notebook and fell off when I dropped it,” said Sally, grinning at his son.

“We know _that’s_ a lie,” Percy muttered. How would she be able to find the picture otherwise, right?

“And it has mommy’s writing on the back! Look!” Estelle took the framed picture of Annabeth from her hands to try to take it out of its frame. After Annabeth helped a little, they got it out and Estelle showed what Sally had written on the back: _Percy’s first crush._ Under it, Sally had put the date when she found it.

Percy was looking down at the table, scratching his neck. Smirking knowingly, Annabeth held the picture in front of him and said:

“You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?”

He lifted his head to look at the thirteen-year-old Annabeth smiling at him in front of the Lincoln Memorial, arms crossed, seeming very pleased with herself as she is now. One side of the picture was a bit damaged, thanks to that piece of shit called Matt Sloan. Percy knew it’s been – what, ten years? But he still thought that guy was a piece of shit. Annabeth also turned its back to show what was written, all while watching her fiancée’s reaction. When Percy saw it, he hopelessly tried to save himself.

“Okay – that writing, mom? _That’s_ just excessive and it was not like that…” Annabeth raised her brows in question. “At that time, at least!” said Percy. But, as always, Annabeth pressed on. She narrowed her eyes looking at him and said:

“I remember _e-mailing_ this to you, Percy. Not giving it to you printed like this. So, it seems that you had to go through the trouble of printing this _yourself_ if you wanted to keep it in your notebook _to see me_ every time you opened it.”

Percy sighed in defeat and said, “You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

“ _Nope._ Not a chance.”

Percy turned to Sally once again, “Thanks a lot, mom…”

Everyone was laughing at Percy while Annabeth just kept smirking at him and swiped her thumb against his chin affectionately. Percy felt his face getting hot as he looked away bashfully and unwillingly pushed Annabeth’s hand away.

* * *

Throughout the breakfast they had in honour of Annabeth’s birthday, she and Percy gave them the details of the proposal, how Percy got the ring – Sally absolutely loved the ring and viewed it thoroughly on Annabeth’s hand – and how they were planning to move forward with the engagement. When Annabeth shared her plan of building a house for them, Sally got teary-eyed out of happiness. “I was so afraid that I wouldn’t get to see you two _actually_ living your lives, and it’s just… It’s all I’ve ever wanted for Percy,” she said. Percy held his mom’s hand sympathetically, knowing exactly what she was talking about. He was probably even more pessimistic about how his life was going to turn out than Sally. Nevertheless, he was grateful for all he had.

They didn’t mention what happened last night; figured they would fill Sally in after they got their heads right first. Preferably when Estelle wasn’t around. Percy just asked if they could have the keys to the cabin in Montauk for the weekend and Sally gladly agreed to give it to them.

Afterward, when they were helping Sally clean the table, Annabeth hugged one of Percy’s arms and asked him if they could visit the camp first – to share the news with Chiron. Plus, she missed it there. It had been quite some time since they last visited Camp Half-Blood. It would be really nice to celebrate her birthday at camp again, just like old times.

“Sure, babe. You’re the captain today,” said Percy. Annabeth smiled appreciatively and kissed his shoulder before leaving his side to turn her attention to little Estelle who was also trying to hug Annabeth.

They said their goodbyes after Sally gave each of them a warm hug. Annabeth heard her mother-in-law-to-be whisper against her ear: “I know you’ll take care of him,” to which Annabeth quietly replied, “Always.”

Later in the car, when they were free of the noisy New York traffic and out in the open road, they relished in the sense of calm with the radio providing soft songs to go with the current mood. Annabeth was looking out her window as she mindlessly loosened a few knots in her curls with her fingers. She heard the radio show’s host when the song that was playing ended:

“Alright folks, we’re going to end this relaxing segment with a personal favourite of mine; which goes out to all you sappy couples out there who make me want to puke but also have what you guys have with each other at the same time. This is _Feels a Lot Like Love_ by Anchor + Bell. Enjoy.”

Annabeth thought the song had a beautiful melody and a nice feel to it as she listened with her eyes closed.

_“Even when I’m off somewhere_

_Trying to get lost in the darkness like I always do_

_There’s you”_

Annabeth turned her gaze towards Percy to watch his hair waving in the wind coming from his slightly open window. She leaned the left side of her head against the headrest of her seat. A smile began to form on her lips as she raised her left hand to touch the silky black locks at the back of his head near his neck. The smooth melody the singer was humming made Annabeth focus even more on the man sitting beside her. _When did the boy I fell in love with become this man before my eyes?_ she thought.

Although, while she gazed at the content expression his face adapted and that cute smile she loved so much highlighted the ghost of a facial hair growing at the top of his lips and on his chin, forming a narrow anchor; she realized he still maintained that boyish charm that drew her towards him. It didn’t matter that now he usually had a hardened look, broader shoulders, or more masculine features like facial hair compared to the troublemaker boy she met when they were kids. Because he still reacted like a puppy to her ordinary touches of affection. And Annabeth’s smile grew wider at the thought of it.

His eyes still on the road, Percy took her hand delved into his hair and drew his face closer to her wrist for a moment to place his lips right on her pulse. Annabeth was amazed at how blissful such a small gesture made her feel. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who was sensitive to those touches. When Percy’s lips left her skin, he interlaced their fingers together and kept her hand close to him without saying anything. It felt as natural as breathing for them.

“I think Stella nailed it at giving me a birthday present this year,” said Annabeth.

“She and mom certainly managed to embarrass me in front of you again, that’s for sure,” Percy replied. Annabeth let out a small chuckle at that before continuing.

“It’s been… what, eleven years now? Since I sent you that photo?”

“I know, right? Still sounds insane when you think about it,” and Annabeth agreed, nodding her head, “Yeah, it does.”

“Man… I’m marrying that girl in the photo,” said Percy. “In your face, Matt Sloan!”

“Who’s Matt Sloan?” Annabeth asked. “That bully guy in Merriweather Prep,” Percy replied, “He thought a girl like you would never look twice at me. Well…” He raised their intertwined hands together. “Who’s laughing now?”

“That’s absurd,” said Annabeth. “Percy, even back then you had nothing to be insecure about. You were cute. That guy was probably just egging you on to get a reaction out of you.”

Percy gave that signature smirk of his as he turned his head for a second to look at her. “…You thought I was cute?” Annabeth copied his smirk right back at him. “Well, you clearly thought _I_ was, seeing as you hung a picture of me in your locker.”

“I didn’t hang it in my locker, it was in my notebook!” Annabeth amusingly questioned him, “And those two clearly have different meanings, because?” Percy laughed nervously and said, “You’re not going to get anything out of me today. I’m not admitting shit to you.” Annabeth pulled her hand away from his and crossed her arms as she turned her head away from him. “Whatever you say, Seaweed Brain,” she said.

Eyes on the road, Percy pulled her hand back to him and kept it in its rightful place.

* * *

When they arrived at the camp, right after they entered the borders, Annabeth stopped Percy for a second. She loosely hugged one of his arms, her head on his shoulder, and urged him to look around to take it all in. They both realized that they’ve missed this place more than they let on. Young campers running around got within their sight quickly and they just stood there for a moment to watch them.

“Come on, Wise Girl,” said Percy. He took her hand and together they started walking towards the Big House. They had agreed on finding Chiron first while on the road.

“It seems we have two of the most wonderful visitors today,” Chiron called out in front of the Big House. He smiled and gestured for them to come closer. “Hey, Chiron,” said Percy and Annabeth when they reached him. He was in his full splendour, with hooves and all. “It’s been quite some time since we last saw each other. I’m guessing mortal life has been keeping you busy. To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked.

“Just missed the place is all. Nothing special to it. _No_ , not at all. Why do you ask?” Annabeth lightly elbowed Percy for his antics. Chiron smiled at them knowingly and in amusement, he said, “Now Percy, if _you_ are not aware of how special today is, I’m afraid I’ll have to scold you and maybe throw in some good old dishwashing punishment for you even.”

“Is that how you treat all your guests? Making them do chores?” Chiron laughed at him softly and replied, “I’m afraid that treatment is only reserved for you, Percy.” Annabeth agreed, “I can totally get behind this idea, why not? _Oh_ , I’ll need to get my popcorn ready though.” It was Percy’s turn to elbow her this time.

“My dear Annabeth. Happy birthday, child. I hope you’ve been enjoying it so far.” Annabeth found Chiron still addressing her as ‘child’ a bit ironic, seeing as she turned twenty-four today. But it also felt endearing to hear even after many years. She has always liked to see that some things never change.

“Thank you, Chiron. I’m really enjoying the day actually, yeah. We just came from celebrating with this one,” she pointed at Percy, “and his family. It was so much fun. Sally even let me in on a little secret as a birthday present,” said Annabeth, flashing a smirk at Percy. He wearily looked up at the sky and muttered, “Just drop it already…” Annabeth laughed it off before asking Chiron, “Can we spend the night here, if that’s okay with you?” to which he replied, “Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Stay as long as you’d like.”

“Aside from the significance of this beautiful day,” Chiron added, “I think you’re also here bearing delightful news for me, and dare I say, the rest of the camp… Concerning family, perhaps? _Building a new one_ , at that.” Smiling happily, Chiron turned his gaze down at their locked hands between them in question. Percy thought his gaze was directed towards Annabeth’s belly though. “Uhm… no-no. She’s not – that’s not why we’re here. _We want to_ , eventually; but I assure you, there’s not a baby in there. Not yet, at least,” he explained nervously.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Percy without being able to bite back her tiny smile. But, she couldn’t lie; the fact that this was what first popped into his head and that he was thinking of it made her heart feel a bit warmer. “He’s looking at my hand, Percy, not my belly,” she said softly. Percy, after gazing down at the ring on her finger, replied, “Oh. _Oh._ Okay, that makes more sense.”

“You are way too good of an observer, Chiron,” said Annabeth with a sigh. “And now you just took out all the excitement of telling you.” Chiron smiled apologetically, saying, “It _is_ a very nice ring though; caught my eye in an instant.” He turned to Percy. “Would it be too old-fashioned of me to guess that Percy was the proposing party?” Annabeth was quicker to answer, “If he hadn’t done it by now, I would probably take the matter into my own hands, to be honest with you. I think I’ve waited enough,” to which Percy was also quick to say, “Well, excuse me, if I wanted us to become financially stable enough first. And don’t even say that the bank account your dad opened for you would be more than enough because I know it would, but he has already offered too much financial support which my fragile male ego can’t handle at this point.” Annabeth squeezed his hand in reassurance and said, “I know. I’m just messing with you. And you and I both know why he keeps doing that.”

She realized that maybe the tiny conversation she and Percy were having was prone to become less funny than she first intended, so she changed the subject after turning to Chiron. “Actually Chiron, aside from sharing the news with you, we also wanted to ask you something.” Chiron motioned for her to go on, so she did. “We were wondering, hoping really, if you would like to be the person who officiates our wedding?”

Chiron took their locked hands with a proud look in his eyes and said to them, “Of course. I would love to. And it would be my _honour_.” He added, “I also heard that it’s so easy to get a certificate for that now, so it should be okay, right?” They chuckled together and Percy asked another question, “So… is it also okay to do the wedding ceremony here? The camp is where it all started for us and there’s really a no better place for it.”

Chiron thought about it for a second before saying, “I guess we can all agree when I say that I have a soft spot for you two; so, I think we might just arrange that. It should be fine as long as there are no mortal guests.” Annabeth and Percy opened their mouths in protest, but Chiron stopped them. “ _Obviously_ , there would be an exception for your mortal parents. It would be wrong of me to not let them, but we _will_ need a strong influence of the Mist on them. Without the Mist, I cannot allow it. Alright?”

“Alright,” said the couple in unison. “Now,” Chiron continued, “Is it too much to hope that you proposed with the help of an apple, _Perseus_?” he asked, intentionally using his full Greek name. Percy made a face of disappointment and replied, “Who do you take me for, Chiron? An amateur?”

After Annabeth gave another eye-roll intended for the usual suspect, she tugged at his arm and said, “Come on, Seaweed Brain. Let’s see if there’s anyone familiar around besides Chiron.”

* * *

“Annabeth Chase. How could you not tell me you were coming?”

“Sorry, Pipes. It was a last-minute kind of decision.” Annabeth walked closer to her friend and gave her a tight hug. “I’ve missed you,” Piper said. Annabeth replied, “I’ve missed you, too.” Piper let go of Annabeth and greeted Percy as well, “Hey, Percy.” He greeted her back, “Hi, Piper. How you been?”

“Oh, you know. Same old, same old. I’ve been helping out the camp a bit more. My dad was kind enough to fund some of our little projects. Plus, I’ve been to some recruiting missions here and there recently.”

Annabeth felt a little guilty that she hasn’t been able to help the camp with those projects for quite some time now. Her job at the architecture firm kept her busy and exhausted enough to not have time for it anymore. But, come to think of it, she had much more fun being an architect for the camp than working as one in a New York firm. She was dealing with all kinds of stuck-up clients – and not to mention, a very obnoxious boss – on the regular, and all of them have started to drain her love of architecture. What was the point of building something if it didn’t look beautiful or if it wasn’t resilient?

“You said you’ve been here for a few months last time we talked on the phone. Have you made up your mind about staying yet?” Annabeth asked Piper. She replied, “I’ve still yet to decide on it, but I think I’m leaning towards staying, yeah. We’ll see how it goes.”

“Is anyone else around to help you with these projects? Other than Chiron?” asked Percy. “Other head counselors have been helpful. Currently, only Katie, Pollux, Malcolm, Butch, and Lou Ellen are in camp. Oh, and Clovis, but we don’t really see him around that much. Will took Nico on a ‘healing vacation’, the Stoll brothers are probably busy wreaking havoc among mortals, and Clarisse went on a recruiting mission with Chris and a daughter of Nike. Sometimes people from Camp Jupiter come around to help, Frank and Hazel have been especially helpful, and we go to them sometimes as well.”

“Is Miss Oracle around?” said Percy. “She usually is, but she has been determined on stopping her parents from destroying natural habitats for business ever since she had a talk with Grover. So, the two of them teamed up to do just that and are currently making Mr. and Mrs. Dare’s lives a living hell,” Piper answered with a chuckle. “What they’re doing is very noble, and I don’t even need to mention it, but especially Grover. Lord of the Wild, and all.”

“We should IM Grover as soon as we get the chance, Percy… and I want to catch up with Malcolm as well while we’re here,” Annabeth said. “But, wait… Piper, where’s Leo?” Piper suddenly seemed a bit nervous to answer. “He’s not here either, but I assure you, he’s fine. It’s just a long story to talk about when you guys just arrived. I’ll tell you about it later.”

Piper’s nervousness seemed to be lost and replaced by a cheerful look on her face when a sudden realization hit her and she continued, “…After we celebrate your _birthday_! Happy birthday, Chase! It’s July 12th today, right?” Annabeth laughed as she gladly received another hug from Piper and said, “Thank you. I didn’t think you’d remember it.” Piper spoke with her arms around Annabeth, “Are you kidding? Of course, I remember. You remember and make sure to at least call me on _my_ birthdays. It’s the least I can do. Oh, and you’re also my friend, so that helps as well,” she joked as Annabeth thanked her one more time with a big smile.

Piper glanced at her radiant expression and saw that Percy also had a similar one on his face. They locked eyes together casually after Annabeth detached herself from Piper. Looking between them back and forth, Piper sensed something new. “There’s something different about you two, like… I know you’ve always had a strong bond, but it feels like there’s something more added to that,” she said.

Smiling knowingly, Percy came closer to Annabeth, standing next to her and said, “On the count of three, Wise Girl?” Annabeth nodded and started counting.

“One, two, three!”

At three, Annabeth raised her hand to show the ring and Percy raised the oval pendant of his chain. Piper’s focus was on the ring though as her eyes widened at the sight of it and her mouth fell open. “You’re engaged! _Oh, my gods!_ ” she exclaimed. Then she held Annabeth’s hand to get a proper look at the ring while Percy just stood next to them, still holding up the pendant with the letter ‘A’ on it. “Uhm… Well, I also got… this,” he mumbled.

As she kept her eyes on the ring, Piper said, “He finally put a ring on it, huh?”

“That’s right. And _she_ put a chain on it,” said Percy, still showing off the pendant and instantly regretting what he just said as his smile faded. “That doesn’t sound right, does it?”

“Babe, no…” Annabeth said softly.

“That was pitiful,” Piper told him. “But – the slightly problematic joke aside, I like the gesture, Water Boy. That looks nice.” Percy finally let go of the chain and said, “Thank you. Do you like the ring as well?”

“I do, actually. It’s beautiful and… I don’t know, it’s just so you and Annabeth. Especially the colours. Where did you get this ring?”

“Your mom,” Percy answered.

“ _Oh, for fuck’s sake…_ ”

* * *

Percy and Annabeth spent the rest of the day going around the camp, catching up with everyone and sharing the news. The people who actually knew them since the beginning of their relationship were not surprised to hear about their engagement at all. Malcolm even reacted with, “Yeah, _no shit_. Took you guys long enough.” Catching up with Malcolm made Annabeth think of Magnus, and then in relation to Magnus, her dad. So, she made a mental note to get in touch with them and letting them know about the engagement as well.

The much younger campers looked at Percy and Annabeth in awe as they met a few of them and passed them by while walking around the camp. They were like legends to them; they’ve heard all the stories, good and bad. But that’s why it gave them hope whenever they saw the two heroes of Olympus; even though after all they’ve been through – and been _put_ through – they were still here, trying to lead a normal life as much as possible.

There was a big feast at dinner that evening. After much begging Chiron had to suffer, he finally allowed the campers to sit wherever they wanted for that dinner only in honour of Annabeth’s birthday and the engagement. So… both a birthday and an engagement party? Seemed like it.

Piper brought out a birthday cake for Annabeth as desert and everyone gathered around her to sing the happy birthday song. She’s never had a birthday like this when she was a kid at Camp Half-Blood, but she was glad that this was happening at the moment. A very happy moment indeed as everyone cheered for her when she blew out the candles and the man she was in love with hugged her from behind; telling her against her ear, “Happy birthday, Wise Girl. I love you so much,” and placing a sweet kiss on her cheek with his trademark smile.

Grudgingly, both Percy and Annabeth made their first of many offerings to Her Most Bovine Majesty, as Annabeth called her. Not during the offering process, of course, but Percy still hoped Hera didn’t hear and get offended by them yet again.

After dinner, everyone gathered around the campfire this time. Campers dying to hear stories from them kept asking but Piper kindly refused them in Percy and Annabeth’s behalf. Maybe she threw a bit charmspeak in there too for good measure. But when two Apollo campers came near them to ask if they could sing a song for them as congratulations to their engagement, even though a shy Percy said they didn’t have to, Annabeth said she’d love to hear it and they sat down to listen; with Percy’s back against a log and Annabeth’s back against Percy.

The Apollo kids started playing a cover of _And I Love Her_ by Passenger. Annabeth thought the sound of a guitar hit different when they were near a campfire. She didn’t know if it was the literal warmth coming from the fire or if it was the soft and beautiful voice of the singing camper, but there was no doubt that it felt special.

_“She's a whistle on the wind_

_A feather on the breeze_

_A ripple on the stream_

_She is sunlight on the sea_

_She's a soft summer rain_

_Falling gently through the trees_

_And I love her”_

Percy’s head was placed on his favourite spot in the world: on the crook of Annabeth’s neck. His lips slightly touching the two cuff piercings on the upper side, he murmured against her ear, “I agree with, ‘sunlight on the sea’.” A bashful smile escaping her hold, Annabeth leaned closer to him.

_“She's cunning as a fox_

_Clever as a crow_

_Solid as a rock_

_She is stubborn as a stone”_

Lowering his head to hide his face as he let out a quiet chuckle, Percy said, “Now I get why they were so intent on playing this song for us.”

_“She's a hard-headed woman_

_And the best one that I know_

_And I love her_

_Yeah, well I love her”_

Annabeth’s sleeveless top enabled Percy to glue his lips on her bare shoulder as if to say, “I agree with those as well.” She brought her left hand to his cheek in thanks and closed her eyes, giving in to the melody.

_“She's as new as the springtime_

_Strong as autumn blows_

_Warm as the summer_

_And soft as the snow”_

“ _So_ soft,” said Percy, making Annabeth chuckle this time, resulting in an equally soft kiss against his forehead. She didn’t get how Percy found her skin to be soft when she thought her skin had become hardened after years of frequently coming face to face with death – _quite literally_ in one infamous instance. But he kept reminding her that her skin was soft with every touch and every infatuated sentence.

_“She loves me like a woman_

_She looks like a lady_

_She laughs like a child_

_And cries like a baby_

_I think that maybe she's the one that's gonna save me”_

They tightened their hold on each other as the last words of the song flew along with the night breeze and Percy kissed the crown of Annabeth’s head. After the moment passed, everyone gave applause to the talented campers and they congratulated Percy and Annabeth once more.

Piper came near them and asked Annabeth if she could steal her away for a moment. Annabeth told Percy to meet her at The Big House after to discuss “New Athens”, as Percy called it, with Chiron. He agreed and got up from where he was sitting only to get bombarded with story requests by younger campers once again. Piper and Annabeth left the campfire gathering to find a quiet place to chat properly.

When Annabeth left Piper’s side to go to The Big House, she found Percy in one of the hallways, already talking with Chiron. Annabeth explained her plan for a Greek demigod town near Camp Half-Blood in detail and Chiron listened. He liked the idea but said they’ll need a big amount of support from the Olympians if they are to go through with this idea and Annabeth agreed. They would need to request an audience with them on Mount Olympus to lay the groundwork.

Annabeth said she wanted to build the house she designed for Percy and herself first so that she wouldn’t have to go back and forth between their apartment in the city and Long Island. Along with obvious selfish reasons. Percy also made some suggestions on how to convince the gods and they outlined a small plan together.

They also vaguely gave some details to Chiron of how Hera came to berate them last night. He advised them to stay on her good side even though they hated it, and he said the deal they made with her may even come in handy when they go up to Mount Olympus to meet with the gods. He was probably right, but that didn’t make the necessity of sucking up to her any less disgusting.

Nearly a good half an hour had passed when a camper came running to Chiron, asking for help. “What’s the matter?” asked Chiron to which the camper just said she’ll explain on the way. So, Chiron told Percy and Annabeth to wait for him, “It’s probably one of the little ones causing trouble or _getting in_ trouble again. We’ve been having similar incidents nowadays. I’ll go take a quick look; it won’t take long. You guys stay here.” And with that, he was out the front door.

Both of them watched him go as Annabeth leaned against Percy to give him a side hug in silence with her head on his shoulder. “It’ll take some persuading, effort and time, but… we’ll make it work, Wise Girl. We always do,” said Percy. “I hope you’re right,” Annabeth replied, “There are so many of us who feel like outcasts in the mortal world. And once we hit eighteen, we’re just crowding the camp instead of a new kid coming in; so, we can’t stay here either… I just want to build a community for us grown-up half-bloods. A strong one where we can support each other and _live our lives_ for once. Where the young ones still in camp won’t have to be afraid of their future or if they will even have one. Like _we_ were afraid.”

“We’ve fought and defeated every possible threat in a short span of just a few years, so the monsters are not that strong as they were before. I don’t know how long this quietness will last, but I plan to take advantage of it to its fullest. For these kids, for our friends… and for us.” She let Percy wrap his arms around her as she placed her hands on his chest and looked up at him. Percy met her gaze as he said, “I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll do an amazing job at it.”

He attached his lips on her forehead and kept them there as he closed his eyes, just taking in the sheer presence of her. Annabeth moved her hands upwards to trace the lines of his shoulders for the same purpose. Her left hand grabbed a hold of his shirt’s fabric while her right hand changed its position and moved to his chain once again. Every time she touched it; she was reminded of the fact that they weren’t wearing their bead necklaces anymore. They kept them as mementos; from a time that seemed so long ago now. And even though Annabeth didn’t really think of it that way when she gifted that chain to Percy, it kind of became a symbol of maturity; it reminded her that they weren’t kids anymore.

Percy pulled back just enough to take a look at her. He tucked a strand of gold behind her ear as he said, “You were smiling near everyone today, but I caught those gears in your head keep turning and turning… and I’m assuming they never stopped for once. You’ve worried too much for one day – for a birthday, no less.” Annabeth sighed, saying, “I know, I know…”

“If anyone deserves to let loose a little today… it’s you,” said Percy, and tightened his arms around her waist as he continued, “Now, I don’t know if you’re still up for it – and it’s totally fine if you’re not, but if I remember correctly… you had a birthday gift request.” He deliberately changed the voice of his tone to a huskier one.

Amused of the sudden change in mood between them, Annabeth said, “ _I did_ , didn’t I?” She softly chuckled and leaned up to meet his lips in a small teasing kiss. She continued, saying, “But if I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow, I want to enjoy it as much as I can without worrying about some kid hearing us.” Percy let out a sound of a complaint as he captured her lips and talked against them between kisses, “So, we’re not doing it tonight? But I thought we could feel like teenagers again with you sneaking in my cabin.”

“I’m not sneaking in, Seaweed Brain. Everyone knows we spend the night at your cabin when we visit the camp. It’s not like Athena cabin has space for me to sleep anymore.”

Percy replied with that familiar mischievous smirk, saying, “Who said we were sleeping, baby?” Annabeth laughed against his lips as he stole a few more kisses. Then she pulled away to say teasingly, “We might go for a quiet one for old times’ sake… I can get my birthday present once we arrive at Montauk; it doesn’t necessarily have to be on my actual birthday,” she let a breath hit him as she came closer to his face just an inch and said, “As long as you do it right.”

“Oh, I’m gonna do you right just fine,” he teased back and attempted to claim her lips one last time, but they got interrupted as Chiron’s voice was heard outside the Big House. “Percy, can you give us a hand for a moment? We have a water-related situation at hand that would be much easier to solve with you assisting us!”

Percy muttered, “Perfect timing…” and moved his arms around Annabeth to go find out how he could help. “I’ll handle this right away and I’ll come pick you up once I’m done, okay? Then we’ll see where the wave will take us once we’re in my cabin, hmm?”

Annabeth corrected his awful wordplay, saying, “Where _the wind_ will take us, babe.” Percy shrugged and said, “Pretty sure it’s the wave, Wise Girl.” Then he made sure to give her a wink before he went out the front door, heading towards Chiron and a few campers who were probably going to be the dishwashers of tomorrow’s breakfast.

Annabeth waited a few more seconds watching Percy out the window before finally addressing the extra presence that she knew was there for quite some time.

“You can come out now if you’d like.”

Hesitant footsteps made creaking noises against the wooden stairs as a woman around her age came down from the upper floor to face her. Crossing her arms against her chest, Annabeth turned around to greet her:

“Hello, Calypso.”

(Because I have watched Normal People recently, I'm obsessed with Connell's chain and the length of the chain Percy wears in the story is similar to that, so here's a Paul Mescal photo for reference.)

(But the shape of the pendant is different in my head. I imagine a small oval pendant while writing the story. A bit like this, minus the religious figure. Insert a calligraphic written "A". Plus, I don't think it's gold, it's always been silver for me. And it's a bit smaller in my head as well... Wow, just change the whole damn thing, will ya?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, my first ever cliffhanger. How exciting! My first outline for the chapter was WAY bigger than this even though this was the longest chapter I've written. But I couldn't prolong the wait any longer, so I divided the thing into two separate chapters.
> 
> I will finally burst out the angst I've had inside of me for so long into pages about how Calypso cursing Annabeth thing was a MUCH BIGGER point in HoH that needed to be elaborated on more. IT'S CONFRONTATION TIME, BABY.
> 
> I might make a few edits here and there after I post this. I didn't finish editing for the fear of arriving late at Annabeth's birthday party.
> 
> As always, you can come chat with me on tumblr, this is me here: @getwokescullyy  
> I posted a sneak peak on my tumblr page for this chapter weeks ago, but it got shelved because the story progressed differently as I wrote it. But I'm definitely using it somewhere. That scene was stupid af, I loved it.
> 
> Please leave your lovely comments to fuel me, she said desperately (because I'm a sucker for comments). If you enjoyed reading this, feel absolutely free to drop a small Kudos for me as well.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth finally confronts Calypso about the curse she had to deal with in Tartarus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've seen what I've posted on my Tumblr, then you already know how much I'm sorry about disappearing again. But I'm prepared this time. 
> 
> Here's the thing: I've been planning to write a very long chapter with the aim of making up for another hiatus yet again. But it turned out to be much longer than I've expected, exceeding 10k words, so I divided it into two chapters. Therefore, the next update will DEFINITELY be posted SOON. Because it's already written by yours truly, so you don't have to worry.
> 
> Btw, I haven't read the Apollo series. So, if you feel like something's not canon in regards to that, blame it on my bad info.
> 
> As per usual, beware of some light swearing in this chapter. Aaaaaaand... the angsty stuff that I've been DYING to share with you. Enjoy!

“Is there any reason for you wanting to get me all to yourself?”

“Careful, Chase. That’s not something an engaged woman would say.”

Loving this little banter that they have perfected over the years, Annabeth replied, “Oh, we can easily erase Percy from the picture, Pipes. Just say the word and I’m yours… In fact,” she took her ring off to show, “I can propose to you right now. I already got a ring and it’s from your mom, so… it’d be _pretty_ romantic, don’t you think?”

Piper looked away in false discomfort while shaking her head. “I hate you for bringing her into this,” Annabeth let out a small giggle, “and stop trying to seduce me with that ‘sexy know-it-all type’ you got going on because you know she’ll most likely get the wrong idea and before you can even say _it’s just a crush_ , she _will_ start meddling with our lives.”

Annabeth put her ring back on her finger and gave Piper the mischievous smirk she probably got from Percy. “You think I have a crush on you?”

Piper teased back, “Oh, I _know_ you have a crush on me. I can see through that playful façade of yours, Chase. You’re not fooling anyone.” Equally false as Piper’s discomfort, Annabeth’s jaw dropped in shock before she said, “So what? Don’t you have a crush on _me?_ ”

“Of course, I do. I thought you already knew that.”

“Yes, you’re very Captain Obvious about it.”

They laughed as they walked among trees and enjoyed the cool evening air. Annabeth was about to ask Piper why she brought her out here, but then she decided to speak first.

“You know... When we first met, and I learned that you were a daughter of Athena; I thought it was the coolest thing. Being the daughter of the goddess of wisdom. I thought ‘ _she must be a genius, so… she’ll either look down on me or see me for what I am and will not want to be friends with me_ ’. And even though you were hurting because Percy was gone at the time, you were so nice to me – the nicest person in the camp, even. So, I really wanted to be friends with you, but I also hoped I would turn out to be a daughter of Athena as well so that we could be sisters.”

She continued with a sigh, “But then Aphrodite claimed me, and there were many things running through my mind at that moment, but one of the first things that I thought about was, ‘ _there goes my potential friendship with Annabeth_ ’. Because it’s like, love and wisdom? Doesn’t that mean we’re two opposites that never agree on the same thing? You know, you either listen to your heart or your head and all that cliché bullshit… Plus, the Aphrodite kids at the time were horrible, so I was afraid you would see me just as how you saw them.”

Annabeth let out a small chuckle, saying, “I mean, they weren’t _that_ bad, but yeah. They had different priorities back then.”

“But the thing was… Even though I thought we were supposed to be two opposites, I never thought you were this person who always put logic first in every step she took. I _knew_ you valued love just as much. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I mean, you were the girl who was not afraid to hide her disappointment _or_ anger when she realized she found just three misfits instead of her lost boyfriend.”

Annabeth gave a weak smile with an apology attached to it, “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“I watched you lose sleep day by day until we finally found him,” Piper continued. “You move logically, it’s true, but what fuels you have always been love.”

“Then why did you think we were opposites from each other?” Annabeth asked.

Piper let out a sigh. “While I saw you were capable of embodying both those things at the same time, I didn’t believe that I could do the same thing also. As far as I was concerned, I wasn’t really a smart kid who made smart decisions. But I guess the reason behind that wrong idea I had about myself was because people treated me as such… And then you went ahead and proved those people wrong when we were on the big quest to stop Gaia.”

They stopped walking when they saw a big wide stump they could sit and continue their conversation on.

“You didn’t treat me like I was just a useless Aphrodite kid. You treated me as an equal. You valued my opinion and respected my decisions. And that made me realize that all my previous assumptions about us, about _myself_ , were wrong and frankly… absurd.”

“You bet your sweet ass they were, McLean.” Annabeth smiled warmly at Piper, bumping their shoulders together. She couldn’t believe Piper would think Annabeth wouldn’t want to be friends with her because she was an Aphrodite kid. Piper definitely wasn’t the first child of the goddess of love Annabeth befriended.

That made her think of Silena and how a wonderful friend she was. Just like what Piper had thought about her, Annabeth also thought of Silena that way: the nicest person in the camp. Her death had really taken a toll on Annabeth. If she were still alive to guide her when Piper learned about her mother, she’s sure Silena would’ve helped Piper so much along the way. Just as how she helped her.

There was a short moment of mutual smiles before Annabeth decided to speak.

“So… Was that the reason why you brought me out here? Because I doubt it was.”

Piper picked up her teasing right where she left off though. “Hey, don’t rush this. I thought you would like some private one-on-one with me since we don’t get to hang out much. You’ll go back to your fiancé soon enough. This is _my_ personal time with you. Water Boy can take care of himself for an hour or two.”

Annabeth grimaced playfully. “…He really cannot though.”

“Well, he has to. Aren’t you glad I saved you from his _god-awful_ water puns at least for a while?” said Piper.

“Hey! Only I get to make fun of his puns! And he has his moments now and then.” If he asked her, Annabeth can at least say that she defended him, right?

“Annabeth. The guy literally fishes for moments to use the word ‘fishy’. Pun definitely intended and better than his.” They both laughed at Percy’s antics. Annabeth said, “Yeah, I know but… he’s cute when he fails. And don’t tell him I said that.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t… But there actually was something I wanted to tell you,” said Piper, changing into a more serious demeanor.

“Oh? Go ahead then, what is it? Something important?” Annabeth asked.

“It depends on your perspective of things, I guess.” Piper continued as Annabeth arched an eyebrow questioningly. “I wanted to talk to you about why Leo is not here. But, as I've said, he’s not in trouble. He’s just confused… and I may have caused a small part of that confusion.”

“What is he confused about?” asked Annabeth, listening intently.

“It’s rather a question of ‘who’, to be exact. He is, uhh…” Piper trailed off, but Annabeth pressed on:

“Out with it, Pipes. What are you so nervous about?”

“It’s Calypso.” She blurted out and stopped for a moment to examine Annabeth’s reaction. She couldn’t really make up what those stormy orbs were thinking in the dark though. Little did she know that Annabeth was recently reminded of Calypso’s not-so-little curse and therefore, she was reminded of her anger towards her.

Piper continued:

“He got confused about Calypso, so he left camp a few days ago. Left a note as well, saying he is going to one of his dad’s forges to try to clear his head. He always says he’s better with machines than people, so I don’t blame him.”

Annabeth gestured for her to continue, so she did.

“Two days before he left, I saw him and Calypso arguing in the morning. Then they made up before dinner because she gave him a handwoven shirt she made for him. Now, I know they’ve been in a relationship for years now, so whenever I see them arguing, I try not to dwell on it that much. But I’ve seen the exact same pattern of Calypso chewing him out for no reason and then managing to make Leo forgive her every single time by just making him something he can wear.”

“Are you saying you think the clothes have some sort of magic to them?” Annabeth asked. Piper answered, “Not particularly, no. But the theory has crossed my mind and it’s not off the table, but one that I don’t want to believe in.”

She continued putting her concerns into words. “As I've said, I first thought the arguments were just a long relationship thing, but you and Percy have even a longer relationship and I’ve never seen you guys berate each other like that… Because that’s what she’s been doing. She’s berating him for literally being himself and not acting like someone else.”

Annabeth hoped it wasn’t what she thought it was. Because if so, she already had her hands full with New Athens, the wedding, Hera… and she didn’t have the energy to deal with a former romantic interest of her fiancé. She’s had her share of bitter old ladies. Which she had very little capacity for.

“Like who, exactly?” Annabeth asked.

“The men who stayed on her island, basically. I’ve heard her passive-aggressively comparing Leo to Odysseus one time, to give you an idea,” said Piper.

Annabeth sighed wearily. “Well, you’d be surprised at how often men get compared to Odysseus…”

“What?” Piper asked in confusion.

Annabeth tried to get back on topic. “Never mind… So, you also said _you_ were one of the reasons why he got confused; what happened?”

“I got worried, eventually. Because I just gave you the quick rundown of things without the details, but the constant arguments were beginning to seem really toxic to me. So, I pulled Leo aside to talk to him about it in private. At first, he tried to downplay the whole thing, saying that nothing was wrong between them. But I got through to him when I said that maybe she just feels like she’s obligated to be with him because _he_ was the one who helped her leave Ogygia… Then he got pretty sad. I hate seeing him like that, but I couldn’t watch him force himself to believe that he’s happy! He’s one of my closest friends, I’m only trying to look out for him.”

“And then?” asked Annabeth.

“He was gone the next morning. He left a note to Calypso, explaining everything. I found that out after she gave me the stink eye that morning,” said Piper, rolling her eyes.

“So, he just _left_ like that? Without even trying to talk it out with her?” Annabeth was still on Leo’s side, but it just seemed wrong to at least not try, you know?

“No, no. He tried,” said Piper. “I persuaded Chiron to tell me if he knew anything, and apparently, they had another fight in her quarters at the Big House.”

“ _Persuaded?_ ” Looking suspiciously at Piper, Annabeth raised her eyebrows when she heard the word. After a short resistance, Piper confessed. “Fine! I _may_ have used a bit of charmspeak on him. So what? No centaurs were harmed in the process.”

Annabeth sighed, processing all the information she just received. Leo was on rocky terms with Calypso which was why he wasn’t at the camp. Wait… But –

“Hold on,” said Annabeth, “Piper, is she still –”

“…here? Yeah, that’s why I was a little nervous before talking to you about this. Honestly, I thought you would freak out at least three times by now. But you and Percy went around the camp all day, didn’t you ever see her?”

“No! Maybe she was cooped up in the quarters you talked about, at the Big House.” Then one more thing struck down on Annabeth. “Piper! Ugh, I told Percy to meet me at the Big House! _Fuck…_ Wait, why am I panicking right now? There’s no need for me to panic about this, what am I doing? I’m acting like one of those crazy girlfriends who never let an ex get near her boyfriend… Piper, _say something!_ ”

“ _Okay!_ Hey, calm down, all right? There’s nothing wrong with the way you’re reacting, it happens. Think of it as an instinct you can’t turn off, but one that you can _tune down_. It’s fine, maybe he’s still talking with the campers.”

Annabeth made her unexpectedly tense body relax a little.

“Just get it out of your head for now. You and Percy were going to talk to Chiron, right?” said Piper. Annabeth nodded her head. “Well, go there and do that.”

She came closer to Annabeth, took her hand in hers, and lowered her voice. “I know you’ve never had the chance to confront her about that ‘infamous situation’ she got you in years ago – which is surprising really – but _ignore it_. At least for tonight… It’s your birthday, enjoy it! You can hit snooze on the drama and deal with it some other time. Or don’t. Just keep avoiding her. It’s your call.”

Annabeth sighed, shelving the thought in her mind. “Yeah, okay.”

Piper linked arms with Annabeth and made them stand up from where they were sitting. “Come on. I’ll drop you off personally before going back to my cabin.”

* * *

“You know who I am?” she asked.

Annabeth replied, “Well, you sure know who _I_ am, so…”

The awkward silence between them was almost deafening if it wasn’t for the distant sound of teenagers outside. Annabeth didn’t even realize that she got her stare-down face on, but it was obviously enough for Calypso to avoid her gaze and speak with a voice toned very carefully. 

“Look, I’m sorry; I wasn’t listening in on your conversation earlier if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s just my room is right near the –”

“I know. You weren’t listening,” said Annabeth, interrupting her. “Because you were watching.” Her mouth slightly ajar from disbelief, Calypso took a step back and gripped the stair railing before speaking up. “ _Excuse me?_ I did no such –”

“Yeah, you just happened to be at the top of the stairs hiding behind a plant. It happens, right?” Calypso looked like she was about to say something but wasn’t quick about it out of confusion. Instead, Annabeth explained:

“I don’t have some kind of super hearing or anything, but when you have to go through the shit that I’ve gone through; you tend to pick up the smallest sound around you. Even an exhale as a slipped reaction which you realize… does not belong to your boyfriend who is busy kissing you at that moment.”

Apparently, Calypso didn’t know how to – or _chose_ not to respond as she avoided Annabeth’s gaze once again.

After a second awkward silence between them, she decided it was best to just be upfront with Annabeth. So, she turned towards her saying:

“Look, we just met. I’m sure the memory of Percy being sent to my island is drawing a wedge between us in your mind, but… that was when he was just a teenager. It was a long time ago.”

Annabeth interrupted, “For us; yeah, it was. But for you… no. You’re one of the oldest beings on this Earth; some ten-ish years is nothing to you,” which was one of the things that made Annabeth uncomfortable just thinking about it.

Calypso may have an aging human body now, but she was still a former titan who was at least a couple of thousand years old. And Annabeth was sure she probably changed her form and therefore, _age_ , accordingly for every guy who got washed up at her shore, but… it didn’t sit right with Annabeth. So yeah, she was also angry about the fact that when Percy was sent to Ogygia, he was like fourteen, fifteen tops.

Even though nothing _serious_ happened between her and Percy, Calypso was still a titan who was thousands of years old when Leo showed up at her island. And the ‘time works differently on Ogygia’ thing definitely did not solve this case. Because, again, if so; how did Calypso have a past romantic relationship with Odysseus who was much, _much older_ than Percy or Leo at the time. Not to mention he even had a son.

Therefore, Annabeth thought she had good reason to feel uneasy about this unorthodox, and frankly, disturbing aspect to Calypso; even if the Greek myths did not make sense most times.

Calypso took a few careful steps towards Annabeth.

“Annabeth… I hope you’re not insinuating any false and empty ideas about me –”

“I assure you; my ideas have never been _empty_ –” said Annabeth, only to be interrupted right back:

“– because I’m sure you know that I’m in a committed relationship with Leo Valdez, and I –”

“Yeah, where _is_ Leo, by the way?” Annabeth kept the pressure on, “I’ve heard that he left camp to get his head right about something… Huh. I wonder what’s been bothering him so much that he just got up and left like that. Because _I’m_ sure you know that he’s a good friend of mine and I’m _worried_ , to be honest.”

She moved closer to Calypso as well; arms still folded in front of her chest. “You see, other people tend to treat him like a spare tire even though he doesn’t deserve it, and from what I’ve heard around the camp; that just might be the reason why.”

Calypso dropped her sensible demeanor at the sound of Annabeth’s apparent accusation. Her features that were purportedly told as perfect in the stories showed signs of a little fierceness as she frowned before raising her voice:

“What makes you think that you get to accuse me of treating Leo badly? In fact, why does _anyone_ in this camp think that they’re entitled to comment on my relationship? What happens between Leo and me, is _between_ him and me. No one is allowed to say that _I_ drove him away like _I_ am the one who caused him to leave. I have _never_ been the one who made people leave because guess what? They leave on their own, _every single time!_ ” said Calypso, especially emphasizing the last three words.

“Yeah? Maybe it’s because you forget that there are _consequences_ to the words that come out of your mouth!” Annabeth yelled. She couldn’t keep her anger inside anymore.

“What in the gods’ name are you talking about?!” Calypso yelled just the same.

Annabeth moved towards her a couple of steps further; so now they were face to face.

“Tell me, Calypso. What did you do after Percy left Ogygia to continue our fight against Kronos? Maybe nothing, at first. Just kept on living on that island of yours. You’ve probably gotten used to being alone anyway, so it didn’t matter that he left. I mean, there was a _war_ that he had to fight in, right? _Everyone_ depended on him to fight, so you couldn’t blame him.”

Annabeth’s eyes were two stormy orbs that wanted to pierce through Calypso’s at that point. She forgot all about what Piper said; it didn’t matter to her that it was her birthday. After what Hera said to her last night about Calypso, the scab over her wound had opened and it was as fresh as the ones the _arai_ had given to her down in Tartarus. This confrontation needed to happen _now_.

“But, maybe he told you about this one specific person that depended on him to come back. He couldn’t leave her, but he left _you_. So maybe, _just maybe_ , Percy actually left the island for her, and that thought… That _tiny little_ thought in the back of your head made you angry all of a sudden, didn’t it?”

Both women were looking at each other like they were ready to chew each other out at the first opportunity while Annabeth pressed on:

“Then what Calypso, huh? Then what did you decide to do?”

Calypso replied, “The only reason I got angry was that Percy _promised_ he would convince the gods to release me, but I was still _stuck_ there even after the war was won!”

“Then why did you curse _me_ for it?!” Annabeth shouted.

Calypso just stood there for a second, staring back at Annabeth. The only thing that managed to come out of her mouth was a small, “…What?”

Annabeth continued her onslaught, “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, Calypso. Because of that little curse of yours, I almost died in Tartarus out of all fucking places!”

Calypso seemed shocked to hear that. She vaguely remembered uttering a curse during a certain low point for her after Percy left Ogygia, but… she never thought that it would actually haunt Annabeth, let alone put her in a life or death situation. “Annabeth… I’m sorry, I – I didn’t know…”

“Did you think I didn’t know what being abandoned feels like? Because I know _exactly_ how it feels. People started abandoning me from the moment I was born. But let me tell you something, Calypso… Being abandoned in a beautiful magical island is _not_ the same thing as being abandoned in _hell_!”

Calypso stopped Annabeth. “Look, I’m truly sorry, I didn’t know! And Percy never told me about something like that happened when I saw him after Leo brought me here… But you _can’t_ compare that with being all alone for _gods know_ how many years –”

“Are you serious right now? _That’s_ your apology?!” Annabeth snapped at her. “You might as well say ‘boo-fucking-hoo, I had it worse than you’ and then walk away.”

“Can you at least watch your language?!” Calypso snapped right back. “I’m _trying_ to talk to you, but you’re not letting me! And to top it all off, you’re talking to me with such vulgar words!”

“Well grandma, we wouldn’t be here arguing if you just paid attention to _your_ words, but what’s done is done! So, the _least_ you can do is utter a sincere apology!” said Annabeth.

“How _dare_ you speak to me like that?” After hearing those words from her, Annabeth could see that Calypso was one more aggravating comment away from losing it.

So, she gave her one.

“Did you curse Penelope, too? After Odysseus left your island to go back to his wife? Who’s next, then – Piper? For opening Leo’s eyes about you?”

But Annabeth didn’t think Calypso would go that far as she saw one of her hands in the air, ready to _slap_ her for fuck’s sake, when –

“ _Don’t._ _Touch her._ ”

Calypso was stunned at the sight of her wrist grabbed tightly in the air.

“ _Percy?_ ”

“If you lay so much as a finger on her, _I swear to gods above…_ ” he started, but then restrained himself.

Percy’s eyes were that scary green Annabeth hated to see. Calypso, apparently, was not fond of it either. His eyebrows frowned sharply as he spoke to Calypso:

“You don’t get to take the anger _I_ caused out on Annabeth. I’m not letting that happen again. So, if you’ve got a bone to pick, it’s with _me_. _Not. Her._ ”

“Funny you should say that when it’s her that seems to have a problem with me,” Calypso snarled.

Percy breathed through his nose. “Why _did_ you curse us then, Calypso? I get why you would curse _me_ , but Annabeth didn’t even know you.”

“You’re saying it like I damned both of your souls to hell!” Calypso interjected.

“It didn’t matter in the end though, did it?!” said Percy, raising his voice. “I almost lost her that day in the most _daunting_ way possible –”

“Then why are you bringing this up _now_ , after years have passed?!”

“I _should have_ brought it up sooner, but here we are!”

They were yelling at each other back and forth, with a stunned Annabeth forgotten in the background. She was focused on the fact that Percy still hasn’t let go of Calypso’s wrist while Calypso continued:

“You were supposed to convince the gods to let me go. You _promised_ me you would! But instead, you chose to forget about me and ran back to the arms of a mortal lover just like every other hero that came to my island!”

“I didn’t forget about you!” said Percy. “I talked to the gods on Mount Olympus right after the war and they said they would release you.”

“Well, _clearly_ they did not!” said Calypso.

“And that’s _my_ burden to carry! I should’ve made sure they honored their promise, and that’s my fault! But you didn’t need to stoop that low by punishing the ones I love!”

“You mean _her_?” Calypso said as she turned her gaze towards Annabeth for a moment. Annabeth noticed the tears in her eyes that threatened to stream down any second. Before Annabeth could say anything, Calypso turned to speak with Percy; her voice considerably weaker:

“Let me ask you something. I’ve been living in your world for quite some time now. And when people talk about you, everyone says the same thing: that _the great_ Perseus Jackson would sacrifice himself if it meant saving a friend – but that’s not true. I should know.”

She paused just for a second before continuing with a dreary tone, “Because you would sacrifice _the world_ and everyone in it if it meant saving _her_ … _Is she really worth the whole world, Percy?_ ”

And he just stood there, staring back at Calypso. Not even bothering to open his mouth to utter one word as Annabeth watched him.

“What’s going on here?” another voice said, breaking the silence that fell upon the room.

Chiron entered as he tried to understand what exactly he just walked into by studying the faces of the three people present.

“Let go, you’re hurting me,” Calypso whispered to Percy. He slowly let go of her wrist. “Nothing, Chiron. I was just heading back to my quarters. Good night,” she said and quickly went up the stairs.

Chiron kept on looking at Percy and Annabeth worryingly before letting out the breath he was holding, and said, “I don’t have the energy to sort this out at the moment… We’ll talk about this tomorrow. For now; good night, you two.” With that, he disappeared into his own room.

Both of them were still standing there. Annabeth couldn’t keep her eyes away from Percy’s face. Though she wanted to. It hurt to see him so… shattered.

She didn’t know what to do. Was it her fault? She didn’t say anything, but… Calypso did. And Annabeth had a terrible feeling in her gut that now Percy was haunted by those words; questioning himself. Or her.

She took a careful step towards him.

“Percy?”

When he didn’t say anything, Annabeth came closer. He had his back against her, so she raised her hand towards the back of his neck; ready to gently place her fingers there as that usually calmed him down. Then, she hesitated; pulled her hand back when she was just about to do it. She feared that this time it would only push him further away.

So, she settled for his hand. But when she had the faintest touch on the inside of his wrist before slowly sliding down, she felt him silently twitch – like it was the touch of a stranger. It made Annabeth want to break down right then and there.

“Talk to me,” she said softly.

 _Squeeze my hand and tell me everything’s okay,_ she thought. _That we’re okay._

But he didn’t move a muscle. Just kept on looking like he was out of focus. Annabeth desperately tried to make him answer to her touch by holding on to his lower arm.

“Baby, please…” Her voice sounded hurt, betraying her.

Percy pulled away and headed to the door, leaving Annabeth to watch him go. Though he didn’t move in a rush; so Annabeth was able to recover from her stunned reaction just in time to follow him out the door.

She called out to him repeatedly to no avail.

“Percy!”

Her tears were finally escaping from her hold now. Annabeth was still following him and trying to get his attention when she ran into Piper who suddenly stopped her:

“Annabeth, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“He’s – I don’t know, Piper. But I have to follow him, he won’t talk to me,” said Annabeth, sounding utterly broken.

“What? Why? Did something happen?” Piper asked.

“I saw her. Calypso. We were arguing and then Percy came in – and I… Piper, I really need to talk to him, I’m sorry,” said Annabeth, already moving.

“It’s okay, I’ll see you first thing in the morning,” and with that, Piper let Annabeth go.

* * *

Percy was sitting on the bed inside his cabin when Annabeth walked in. Head down, elbows placed on his knees, and hands tied together. She quickly wiped her eyes clean of tears, but didn’t come closer as she spoke:

“Why are you ignoring me?”

Percy didn’t even bother to look at her when he said, “I just needed a moment alone to think.”

“No, you didn’t,” said Annabeth. “If you were so keen on having a moment alone, you wouldn’t be here knowing full well that I’d have to come here eventually; at least to sleep… That’s my bed too, as much as it is yours.”

When Annabeth had no choice but to spend the night at Percy’s cabin whenever she was at the camp – because of Athena cabin being at full capacity even without her after she went to college – she and Percy had pulled some strings to put a double bed in his cabin. So, that bed was really the last thing he would sit on if he wanted to be away from her.

“I can go somewhere else if you’d like,” said Percy.

“ _No._ You’re not avoiding this conversation right now,” Annabeth replied.

“I’m not trying to avoid anything.” Yet, he still kept his head down.

“Then _look at me_ , Percy.”

He finally lifted his head with a look that read, ‘Happy now?’. Annabeth did not like it. And she let him know:

“You know I hate it when you do this…”

“What? What am I doing exactly?”

“You’re pushing me away!”

“I’m not doing _shit_ , Annabeth!”

“Yeah! And that’s the fucking problem!”

Percy breathed through his nose as he stood up and walked towards Annabeth. He started talking but avoided her gaze:

“I’m not fighting with you tonight.”

Annabeth looked at him like he was being ridiculous and said, “Who said I was trying to –” before Percy interrupted with, “Yeah, but you’re picking one!”

Eyebrows frowned angrily, Annabeth moved even closer towards him, pointing a finger at his chest, saying, “You drop this tough guy act _right now_ and tell me what’s wrong or I’ll shove it up your ass, you hear me?” She didn’t let him open his mouth and continued herself instead:

“Something’s bothering you and we both know that it’s what _she_ said. She turned that conversation on you by pushing on your weaknesses, not with solid points.”

“ _Pushing on my weaknesses…_ ” said Percy, under his breath.

Annabeth pressed on, “She was guilt-tripping you, Percy!”

“So what? Maybe she was right!”

Annabeth took a step back when he heard him say that. She asked, “About what?”

Percy answered hesitantly, “About me being a selfish person who – _fuck_. I don’t know, okay? That’s why I wanted a moment alone in the first place!”

“Why? So you could figure out whether I’m _worth the whole world_ or not?” said Annabeth, throwing Percy off guard.

“Annabeth, I didn’t say that…”

“Don’t worry, I got the message anyway.” She grabbed a jacket from their bag and headed to the door of the cabin. “If someone needs a moment alone, that’s me.”

Percy softly called out, “Beth, don’t…”

Annabeth turned her head around angrily:

“You _don’t_ get to _Beth_ me right now!” The night breeze slipped into the cabin as soon as she opened the door. “…I need some air.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've been wondering what took me so long to write this chapter, THIS was why. It's hard to write them fighting, it hurts :(
> 
> This little cliffhanger won't have you dangling like the previous one, since the next chapter will be up WAY SOONER. You seriously have my word this time. Also, the next one smells a bit... spicy, I think.
> 
> And guys, don't forget: more of your lovely comments always mean less time waiting for the next update <3 (But, seriously... way less this time, I promise.) 
> 
> I really hope you've enjoyed this update. Don't be shy to communicate with me on here OR on Tumblr -> @getwokescully (p.s. Can someone teach me how to attach a link in the notes?)
> 
> And hey, you're free to leave a teeny tiny Kudos if you haven't already <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their Calypso infused fight, it only takes an hour for Percy and Annabeth to (maybe a little more than) kiss and make up. 
> 
> OR
> 
> This chapter is designed to give you all the percabeth feels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back with the apology for my hiatus part 2! Which is my quickest update ever and will probably hold that record for quite some time. Considering my online uni classes coming back for another semester to haunt me and some professional work I've decided to do. But not to worry. Because I will write at every chance I get. And you can follow @getwokescully on Tumblr where I can let you know the current state of the updates under the tag "#the rest of our lives fanfic".
> 
> Oh, and I went with the songfic aesthetic again during one scene which features lyrics from Taylor Swift's "False God", my second-best track on her Lover album (go listen to her new one Folklore if you've been living under a rock, it's her masterpiece). I've literally had the idea for months now and I'm so relieved that I finally got to write it down. 
> 
> And lastly, please beware that this time, nearly half of this chapter contains explicit scenes as the rating suggests.
> 
> (If you're a minor and if you are not heeding the warnings in the tags, please at least leave now.)

After walking around the camp for at least an hour, not being able to find one spot to get her head right – because _the idiot_ had imprinted himself everywhere she went in the damn place – Annabeth decided to go back to Cabin Three. It certainly didn’t help that she also took one of his jackets in the heat of their argument; and now she smelled like him too.

Everyone in the camp was asleep by now, so maybe she would be able to sneak in quietly without having to face him once again. She could just slide into the bed and shelve their dispute for tomorrow; she’d had more than enough drama in the quick span of two days, and it seemed like it wasn’t going to let her go soon even for her birthday.

She tried to make as little noise as possible as she slowly opened the cabin’s door. It was mostly dark inside except for the light that was coming from the windows. Her eyes searched for his presence, settling on the stupid face that was currently sleeping on the bed. He didn’t bother to change into pajamas or even get under the covers; just sleeping soundly while Annabeth was busy losing her mind.

She took his jacket off and moved towards the bed to take a closer look, to see if he really was sleeping. But as soon as she got close, her hands automatically found their way towards the covers, pulling them on him. Old habit. And when she felt soft after just looking at his face for five seconds, she moved towards one of the windows near the bed instead. That fight needed to be had, and she wasn’t about to drop it with a single look at his moonlit face.

Why did she have to make them visit the camp? They would be perfectly content in Montauk right now, sleeping _together_ with their arms around each other if she hadn’t insisted.

A part of her seriously thought that this was Hera’s doing; _testing_ her goddamn patience, and to see if she was really up to the challenge. Well… if the bitch thought she could hinder Annabeth’s chances of building a family with Percy, she needed to up her game. Annabeth and Percy had gone through much worse to fail on the first obstacle thrown at them. And Annabeth hoped Hera would hear that one this time.

Looking out the window while causing the inside of her head to get even messier, she heard the bed shift… _Turns out he wasn’t_ that _asleep_ , she guessed.

Cautious footsteps made their way towards her as she kept her gaze outside the window. She didn’t move until she felt his warm breath against her skin; and she instinctively grabbed the windowsill a bit tighter at the sensation. His reflection on the windows was clearer now that he practically crowded her against it. But he still hadn’t touched her.

He made a move to place his lips on her shoulder at first but stopped midway and straightened up again. His right hand wanted to touch her now let down golden locks but hesitated like his lips and immediately pulled away. He acted like he was trying to approach a scared bird who was ready to fly away from his reach if she ever sensed the slightest thing that made her uncomfortable.

Just when Annabeth was done waiting to see if he would make a move and was about to open her mouth, she saw him taking out his phone from his pocket and going through it before carefully placing it on the windowsill… She hadn’t seen this move from him for at least a year.

“Can you pick a song for us?” Percy asked softly against her ear.

Annabeth looked through the playlist in front of her named ‘ _if I’d have to choose between fighting or dancing, I’d dance with you every time_ ’. She recognized a few of the songs he used before at times like this; meaning, times when they got mad at each other.

This little making up tool was created when they were freshmen in college. They had just been to their first-ever college party and Annabeth had tried her hardest to make Percy dance with her. But Percy had denied all her requests because he kind of hated dancing in front of large groups of people. Annabeth didn’t even want to remind herself of their senior prom where she had to bring out her a-game of ‘convincing Percy Jackson’ and literally drag him to the dance floor.

But that night, with the smell of alcohol everywhere around him, Percy was extra uncomfortable about it while Annabeth just wanted to have a good time with her boyfriend. So, when she left him for two seconds to say hi to a friend from one of her classes and she came back to see some other girl _blatantly_ press herself up against him to make him dance with her… she had flipped. Then, they had one ridiculous fight just like this one.

After they both cooled down though, Percy caught her alone for a moment and brought out this little playlist he had made for them to dance to. From that moment on, they started using it to get out of silly arguments and to remind themselves that they loved each other very much; so, fighting over ridiculous shit was not worth it.

Annabeth noticed some newly added songs by Percy and thought about which one to pick. She didn’t want to pick the obvious one right away, but it really did sum up what she was feeling at that moment and all the things she wanted to say to him but couldn’t bring herself to.

_“We were crazy to think_

_Crazy to think that this could work_

_Remember how I said I'd die for you?”_

Finally convinced that she won’t fly away from him, Percy slowly but surely placed his hands on Annabeth’s waist.

_“We were stupid to jump_

_In the ocean separating us_

_Remember how I'd fly to you?”_

Then he moved her soft curls to her left shoulder to rest his head on her right; his thumbs were absent-mindedly going back and forth against her sides while he watched her reflection.

_“And I can't talk to you when you're like this_

_Staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town_

_I'm New York City_

_I still do it for you, babe_

_They all warned us about times like this_

_They say the road gets hard and you get lost_

_When you're led by blind faith_

_Blind faith”_

Percy started to lazily move them side to side as he fully wrapped his arms around her, and Annabeth followed suit by hugging those arms. She let her body relax and let Percy cradle it with his. Now, they were standing cheek-to-cheek, both of them using the window as a mirror.

_“But we might just get away with it_

_Religion's in your lips_

_Even if it's a false god_

_We'd still worship_

_We might just get away with it_

_The altar is my hips_

_Even if it's a false god_

_We'd still worship this love_

_We'd still worship this love_

_We'd still worship this love”_

Annabeth closed her eyes and moved with the rhythm while Percy put his lips on her cheek and stayed there, holding her even tighter as he breathed in deeply. There was something about being in his arms that made her feel like it was her own personal hideout; she was lost in there, and no one could see her but him.

_“I know heaven's a thing_

_I go there when you touch me, honey_

_Hell is when I fight with you”_

Annabeth slowly turned around in Percy’s arms. She gently held his neck and brought his head down so he could rest it where her neck and shoulder merged. He immediately inhaled her calming scent until his lungs were full and kept his lips on the skin there after he exhaled. Annabeth gently caressed his hair from where her hand stayed on his neck and hugged him as tight as she could while they swayed to the music.

_“But we can patch it up good_

_Make confessions and we're begging for forgiveness_

_Got the wine for you”_

“I’m so sorry,” Percy whispered. “I let my anger get the best of me. I didn’t mean to hurt you, baby, I swear…”

“Shh… I know, I know…” Annabeth said against his ear. “I’m not mad anymore, just –keep holding me.”

_“You're the West Village_

_You still do it for me, babe”_

Percy raised his head from where it rested to pull her against his chest, making sure he kissed her forehead first. “Come here,” he said, and continued, “I shouldn’t have let what she said get to me. People can think what they want to think. _Gods_ can think what they want to think. They don’t know us… They don’t know _you_.”

_“Religion's in your lips_

_Even if it's a false god_

_We'd still worship”_

Annabeth cupped Percy’s cheeks, feeling his slowly growing stubble tickle her palms, and brought his face to hers just enough to let their lips mold into one pair. Not more, not less. Only what they needed: a small contact… while tears found their way down Annabeth’s cheeks.

Percy realized them when he made a move to cup her cheeks as well. As soon as he did, he pulled away and whispered, “Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?”

Annabeth answered, “No, it’s just… This was supposed to be a happy occasion, you know; my 24th birthday, us getting engaged… But instead, we got this whole drama with Calypso… and _Hera_. I mean, the Calypso part I can stop giving a shit to, but the deal we made with Hera… I don’t know how long I can go through with it, Percy, it’s just _too much_. I just wanted to get married and have kids and have a regular boring life with you! Why must the gods always meddle with our lives?”

“Hey, listen to me,” Percy held her close as he spoke. “We _will_ grow old together. Whether gods fuck with us or not. They can stand in our way all they want, I’ll handle it. I don’t care how tough the road will get as long as I have you.”

Percy’s words reminded Annabeth of what Calypso had said to him earlier.

“Percy?” Annabeth swallowed and placed her fingers on his chain’s small pendant after she took it underneath his shirt, tracing the ‘A’ letter. “If you were to find yourself in a situation where you have to make a decision on whether to save me or save other people who need more help… what would you do?”

Percy answered with a question of his own, “Why are you asking me this? Hold on…” He gave her a confused look. “Is this about what I think it’s about?” he asked softly. Annabeth quietly nodded.

 _‘You would sacrifice the_ world _and everyone in it if it meant saving_ her _… Is she really worth the whole world, Percy?’._

Percy took her face in his hands and wiped her tear-streaked cheeks with his thumbs. Then he said:

“Look at me.”

Annabeth looked up at him. He continued:

“I know I wavered and couldn’t say anything back. But it was not because what she said made me question my love for you, no – _never_. The reason why I stood there petrified like I just saw Medusa was that… it was true. I would. For you, I’d do _anything_. And it scared me to realize that I’m that much of a selfish person. After all this time, I’m supposed to know better than that, you know? So… I got angry at myself and… I let you get in the crossfire of my self-hatred when I should’ve just let you _in_.”

“You tend to do that a lot,” Annabeth whispered.

“I know,” said Percy, “and I will be sorry about it until I finally learn how to stop trying to bury shit and deal with it on my own, but… _Annabeth,_ ” he breathed out her name.

“You _are_ my whole world. I need you to know that even though I may not go _mad_ and _sacrifice_ everyone in order to save you; if we ever find ourselves in that kind of situation where I can make that exchange… I’m still going to sacrifice myself.” Annabeth tried to protest but Percy kept going, “And if that’s not enough and I lose you, then I’ll die with you.”

Annabeth placed her palms on either side of his neck. “Percy, please don’t talk like that. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you ever did such a thing, and you know it…” Her thumbs brushed over his ears affectionately. “It was a stupid question; I don’t want to think about any of us dying – I don’t want it.” She sniffled quietly. “I only want to think about what we’re going to build together, okay?”

Percy felt the cold touch of her ring mixed with her hand’s warmth against his cheek. He said:

“Annabeth… Right now, and for the rest of our damned lives, I need you to do one thing and one thing only.”

Annabeth waited for him to continue. He let out a soft breath as he brought his head close to hers. Nose to nose. Forehead to forehead. Then he closed his eyes and softly whispered:

“Just keep loving me… Because it feels like I might get lost if you ever stop loving me.”

One last tear escaped Annabeth’s hold at the sound of those words. They clung to her heart, desperately, and Annabeth knew the feeling all too well.

Her right hand clutched his shirt right on top of his heart – _home_. Her left found its way under, touching his bare skin, fingers covering the small of his back. And just like him, she whispered:

“ _I love you…_ With all that I have, I love you.”

And she kissed him. With all that she had.

He held her close; as close as he could. Though, out of breath, he pulled away for a millisecond to echo against her lips, “ _I love you._ ” Then he dived back in.

_“Still worship this love_

_Even if it's a false god_

_Even if it's a false god_

_Still worship this love”_

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in. She arched her back instinctively and her arms went around his neck. They were starting to get lost in each other as Annabeth walked him back to bed and made him sit down.

Percy looked up at her with his hands playing with the hem of her shirt. She had her fingers dancing in the waves of his hair when Percy slowly lifted up the fabric that was hiding her from him. He moved his head to the side and imprinted feather-light kisses on her skin. Annabeth closed her eyes and focused on the feel of his lips.

Then she reached around his back to grab a hold of his shirt and pulled it up, letting him know she wants it off. Percy looked up again and said:

“We don’t have to if you’re tired.”

“I’m not,” said Annabeth. Though she guessed they would both be using the last bit of energy that they had.

Percy took his shirt off at her request. He brought her legs to his sides one by one as they locked eyes under the dim light of the cabin. Annabeth’s hands found their place on his neck again and she whispered against his lips:

“I want to make love to you.”

Annabeth didn’t know if it was the effect of the emotional moment that they were having or just seeing Percy let himself be vulnerable with her, but a sudden desire to make him melt under her touch consumed her. She needed the skin contact that allows her to feel like their bodies become one as she watches him lose his grip on what’s around him and only focus on _her_. For Annabeth, making love to Percy Jackson helped her _mentally_ than any other therapy ever could.

They kissed slowly as if their lips were getting familiar with each other for the first time. Light, careful touches evolving into passionate, firm locks. Taking the time to build up the tension.

Eventually though, Percy grew jealous of Annabeth’s wandering hands on his upper body; so, he helped undress hers too. As soon as she was free from her top and bra, he glued their torsos together and groaned at the sensation while his lips found their way back to hers.

Positioning her elbows on Percy’s swimmer shoulders, Annabeth also went back to her mission of getting his hair even messier while he tightly hugged her waist and let his fingertips leave goosebump trails on her upper back.

Percy’s lungs were starting to burn but he never wanted to detach their lips. Annabeth did not have the same lung capacity though, so she had to pull away to regain her breath.

Percy spoke in a shaky voice with her rapid breathing hitting his face:

“I can’t get enough of you.”

After he redirected his focus on her beautiful neck, Annabeth’s hips started to move as well to find some relief. Percy moaned against her neck and firmly held her hips so that he wouldn’t drop her while he stood up. Though he didn’t need to since Annabeth immediately locked her legs around him.

He gently laid her on to the mattress and kept her occupied as best as he could while he rid her of her shoes, pants, and underwear; but Annabeth managed to at least pop open the button of his jeans and pull down his zipper. She stuck her hand down to feel him through his boxers and found out that he still needed a bit more encouragement.

She sat up and helped him remove his last pieces of clothing. When he was about to climb in the bed with her, Annabeth stopped him to take him in her mouth; but Percy didn’t let her and said:

“Beth, no; I’m not making you give me a blowjob on your birthday.”

“But you’re not fully hard yet,” Annabeth replied.

Percy laid her down once again and climbed on top of her while saying, “Give it a minute or two.” Then he proceeded to start kissing down her body; making her moan as he paid the usual extra attention to her soft breasts.

“ _Shhh…_ Not that loud, baby. Someone can hear us,” Percy whispered and kissed her one last time before moving down south.

At first, he passed her pubic hair to run a finger along her folds and checked how wet she was. Annabeth shivered as he inserted one of his fingers a little bit to try to draw it out, but it didn’t feel enough to Percy; so, he licked a few slow stripes to get her started.

He tried to listen in on Annabeth’s breaths to figure out which way to go. She seemed to like it when he lapped at her clit, but Percy forgot to switch it up every now and then since his right hand was also busy trying to get him up. Consequently, it became difficult for Annabeth to get ready as well.

Figuring this out after a few minutes of mediocre oral sex – which was what made her realize it in the first place, knowing that it wasn’t like Percy to give bad oral after all that Annabeth has taught him – she motioned him to come back up only to roll them over and get on top.

“Was it that bad?” Percy asked with a disappointed sigh.

“You were so concerned with not being able to get it up that you couldn’t focus on me,” said Annabeth.

Percy looked up at the ceiling defeated. He ran his hands up and down her thighs as he met her gaze once again and tried to reassure her:

“Beth, it’s not you, I swear. I’m going crazy just by looking at you right now, you know that right?”

“I know,” Annabeth replied with her right hand on his cheek. “It’s probably because you’re just as tense as me since last night. Being in stress gets you like this sometimes, but it’s okay…”

Playing with his dark locks, she leaned down closer to his face. “Just relax and pretend that my birthday is tomorrow when we arrive at Montauk, yeah? I don’t want to waste our moment…”

She gently kissed him on the mouth and ran her right hand over the soft hair on his chest before whispering, “ _…let me take care of you._ ”

Percy nodded and Annabeth’s lips started their journey from his neck, locating the sweet spots she knew well. It thrilled her whenever his breath hitched or whenever she heard him try to suppress a groan. She loved to listen to Percy during sex probably even more than he loved listening to her. So, she couldn’t help herself not to mark him as hers on his neck and collarbone.

Although, she decided not to waste any more time as she slowly made her way down where he needs her by leaving small kisses across his chest and abdomen. She lay on his left side and got comfortable, then leaned down and finally took him in her mouth.

A loud exhale escaped Percy’s mouth at the feel of Annabeth’s warm mouth around him. She slowly worked his tip while pumping the shaft with her hand and lubricated him as best as she could. Percy stroked her shoulder blades, then made his way towards her hair, all the while trying to keep quiet.

Even though Annabeth knew they were supposed to be careful, she still wanted to hear him. Plus, it always benefited him too, since hearing him let out those sounds of frustration encouraged her more to give him what he needs.

Annabeth relaxed her throat to gradually take more of him as much as she could which was no small feat. She didn’t claim to have seen many dicks in her life, but she was pretty sure that Percy was well-endowed. Not extremely long or thick, just… you know, _impressive_. Analyzing her boyfriend’s – sorry, _fiancé’s_ dick definitely wasn’t in Annabeth’s plan during an intimate moment, but it was honestly hard not to _(don’t_ _say it…)_ when she was _that_ up close.

She felt him respond to her efforts when she started the twisting motion with her hand that she knew he liked. Feeling him get harder and bigger in her mouth made her involuntarily clench her thighs together. Annabeth wasn’t particularly going fast, but Percy already seemed to be more than excited as he balanced himself on his elbows and started meeting her movements by raising his hips.

“ _Annabeth…_ ” he whispered out of breath.

She released him following a few more strokes while kissing along his Adonis belt. Percy couldn’t help but grumble and moved her back on his lap. Sweat beads were starting to show themselves on his forehead, Annabeth noticed, as she guided his tip inside her and hoped that she got wet enough by then.

Their hot breaths got mixed together while she tried to adjust herself to him. Percy looked at her like he was witnessing a once in a lifetime moment. He grounded his hands on the mattress to get a better look at her and Annabeth enjoyed her view just as much; his muscles looked more defined in his current position and the sight of his loose chain on his naked body would always be her favorite image burned in her mind.

Interrupting her inner thoughts, Percy spoke with a voice little more than a murmur:

“You’re amazing…” He tucked a few strands of gold behind her ear and held her cheek lovingly while brushing his thumb against it. Then he gulped for air and repeated, “ _…My amazing woman._ ”

Annabeth pressed her cheek back against his hand, then closed her eyes; getting shy all of a sudden in the face of his intense gaze filled with lust, love, and admiration.

She steadied herself by putting her hands on his chest while he uttered one more thing, brows scrunched together, and eyes still focused on her face:

“What more could I ever want in this world when I have you to call mine?”

Annabeth fluttered her eyes open at that. She crushed into him and kissed his breath away, pouring everything he made her feel into the kiss.

 _I love you_ , he pulled away to say.

 _I love you_ , Annabeth echoed.

Their lips were like magnets that kept getting pulled together. Percy slightly adjusted his position in her arms so that she could take all of him and sit on his lap more comfortably. Annabeth whimpered as she felt him go deeper inside. She had to break their kiss to breathe and let her body relax; so, she placed her chin on top of his head, mouth hung open.

Percy took advantage of their position and littered her neck with open-mouthed kisses. His hands also grabbed a tight hold on her hips to help her find their rhythm. But Annabeth whispered to his ear:

“Lay down. I’ll get us there,” and gently pushed him on his back.

She started out slow, watching his gaze travel on her body. He grabbed a pillow to support his head and got comfortable. Placing his hands on her hips and following her movements; he let go of all the troubling thoughts that clouded his mind.

There was only Annabeth. Only her warmth, her touch. Her gentle hand placed on the back of his neck as she leaned down for a kiss. Her soft sighs filling his ears, just like how her heavenly scent was filling his lungs. Whispers were exchanged to profess their love for each other over and over; wrapped up in the pleasure of such intimacy.

Percy attached his lips on her shoulder and felt her fingertips digging in his chest. She had set a slightly faster rhythm now. He was doing his best to keep quiet against her shoulder but – hearing the sweet sounds Annabeth let out right next to his ear while she had her head buried near his neck… He didn’t even care who could hear them anymore. It was as if there was a stuck record inside his head, going: _Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth…_

And Annabeth wasn’t complaining either. She wasn’t sure if it was a general guy thing or not but normally, during sex, she would need to work harder to get any sound out of Percy’s mouth except for the occasional grunts. So, when Percy wrapped his arms around her and started thrusting up after letting out a moan that she felt in her bones, shakily whispering – more like a short loop, really – “I’m yours,” against her ear; the only thing Annabeth remembered to do was holding on to him for dear life and let him take over instead.

She was just about to near her peak with Percy practically riding her there when she unexpectedly lost the feeling. But she tried not to let it disappoint her.

“Percy… can we sit up?” she asked after she lost her wind for a bit.

Percy slowed down and got them sitting in an upright position on the bed. He started kissing down her body while she gradually regained her breath. Annabeth shivered whenever she felt the occasional lick on her nipples. Consequently, one of her hands delved into his now slightly sweaty hair, soothing his scalp; since her nails might have hurt him a bit while she was entranced earlier.

His hands continued to roam her body while he searched her face and asked if she was okay. Annabeth said she was fine, but Percy wanted to make sure she was enjoying herself too.

“Are you sure? I thought I would’ve made you come by now since you usually like that move; was it too much this time?” he asked, out of breath himself.

“It might be the birth control again, it’s somehow preventing me to get wet enough, I think… I’ll need to visit my doctor to find myself a better pill when I get the chance,” Annabeth replied and moved to drop a few kisses on his jaw.

“I can try to go down on you again; I promise it won’t be awful this time,” Percy offered.

Though Annabeth rejected his thoughtful offer. “No… I need you inside me.”

Percy groaned and involuntarily bucked his hips upwards. He palmed her right breast, slightly rough; relishing in the way it felt soft and fit perfectly in his hand. His mouth circled around her skin hungrily and if he wasn’t hard enough at first, he was definitely hard now.

Because, as Annabeth found out after a few years in their relationship, one of Percy’s biggest turn-on’s was telling him exactly what she wants. Although, needless to say, Annabeth knew that it actually goes both ways. She’d need to make use of that tomorrow when it’ll finally be just him and Annabeth once they’re in Montauk.

Percy flipped them over and lay her on her back. He licked one of his fingers and circled her clit for a bit before going back inside her; hoping it would help her even if a little.

They locked lips once more as he slid in slowly. He kept his thumb on her little button until he finally felt buried inside her to the tilt which made them sigh heavily.

“Percy, that’s so deep…” Annabeth whimpered.

“Too much?” he asked.

She shook her head saying no. Her hands found their spots again; with her right around his shoulders and her left on his ass, desperately pulling his body to hers. His shoulder blades temptingly flexed under her touch. Percy kept penetrating her with rather average speed, whispering sweet nothings to her ear. She closed her eyes, enjoying the simplicity of it all.

 _This is heaven,_ Annabeth thought. His warmth and love surrounding her in every way possible.

They may need to go through hell – _metaphorical_ this time, thank gods – in order to build their something permanent; but it didn’t matter to Annabeth when heaven was in his arms.

She moved to rest her elbows on his shoulders and got a hold of his hair – that she’s made a mess out of by now – dug her heels on his lower back and encouraged him to go faster.

Percy was still worried though.

“I might… not be able to stop – if I go any faster… What if I can’t make you come?” he was barely able to say.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tonight.” For Annabeth, Percy worrying about being a selfish lover could never stop being the sexiest _and_ the sweetest thing; so, Annabeth gave him a deep kiss to reassure him. His chain hanging from his neck was tickling her as it went back and forth, copying Percy’s hips. Then she whimpered against his lips, “I need you, baby, _please…_ ”

And there it was: his melting point.

His thrusts grew not only faster but harder as he tightly held one of her breasts and buried his face in her neck, sucking bruises on the skin there in order to quiet his growls which were beyond his control at that point.

It was true; maybe Annabeth would not reach her climax during their lovemaking, but she was perfectly content with having Percy completely lose himself in her arms. As he’d said, he was hers – as the little pendant that felt cold against her skin reminded her – and she would take care of him just as how he would do the same for her.

His hand on her chest moved to cup her cheek as he came up to press his lips against her. He was moving with full speed now, enticing sounds of their skin contact filling her ears. She started clawing at his back when he heard him try to swallow his whimpers. Then he pulled away just an inch to ask:

“Outside?” He didn’t know if they had spare sheets in the cabin. Coming on her belly was the last thing he wanted to do, and he didn’t like it, but –

“Inside me,” Annabeth answered.

After that, he was a goner.

He came buried deep inside her, with Annabeth pulling his neck to rest his head near hers. Her mouth fell open next to his ear as she felt him let go for her. Percy’s loud groans were muffled against the pillow under her head. His powerful thrusts shook the bed before slowing down, taking his last bit of energy with them.

These 10 – 15 seconds give-or-take was Annabeth’s favorite part of making love before she starts to feel suffocated. Because, after his body gets limp on top of her, she gets to stroke his hair and listen to the sounds that escape him during the aftershock which were often made up of incomprehensible repeats of her name in a weak voice.

If she were able to observe them from the outside of their little bubble, she would probably think that he looked ridiculous and that she looked like a mess. But, in each other’s arms; she thought this was as close as anyone could get to someone. The most intimate moment that they could have.

She also thought he looked cute in the said moment, but he didn’t need to know that.

Annabeth was beginning to worry that he fell asleep on top of her though, so she gently called out to him:

“Percy?”

Light kisses starting on her shoulder and going up her neck answered her. He traveled to her jaw and cheek next, finally arriving at her lips. He gave her the softest pecks over and over again while both of them instinctively caressed each other’s chest affectionately.

Grins spread across their faces after they pulled away.

“I love you,” said Annabeth one more time.

“I love you more,” Percy replied while moving a golden lock that was stuck on the side of her face.

But their moment was unfortunately over because the sensitivity finally made Percy uncomfortable enough to notice. So, he slowly pulled out of her and immediately raised Annabeth’s hips, making her confused.

“What are you doing?”

“Clamp a hand down there. I’ll get a wet towel.”

He quickly cleaned himself up in the bathroom and to Annabeth’s surprise, actually came back with a wet towel. He gave her another peck before saying, “I’ll clean you up, baby. It’s the least I can do.”

And, no. She didn’t swoon (on the outside).

* * *

The sheets seemed fine so after the cleaning part was done, they cuddled up without giving a single thought to putting on clothes. They were in the middle of July anyway, so they didn’t mind.

Annabeth was playing with his chest hair when she asked him, “Should we have taken a shower?”

He answered while his arm was wrapped around her, fingers absentmindedly stroking the side of her breast, “Nah… We can shower in the morning. Stay right there, this is nice.”

She smiled and raised her head from his chest for a second to plant a kiss on his jaw. She hoped he wouldn’t shave this weekend. She loved kissing his clean-shaven cheeks, but she’s always wondered if he could pull off a beard. He never let his facial hair grow more than a slight stubble and she didn’t know why. She made a mental note about convincing him to do it some time.

“Wise Girl?”

“Hmm?” Annabeth turned her gaze to him once more. Percy looked deeply at her grey orbs before speaking:

“I need you to know that no matter what happens – you’ll always be my number one priority, okay? Now, more than ever… What kind of a husband would I be if I didn’t put my wife first? If I didn’t put her _safety_ first? I have to. And I need you to understand that I can’t have it any other way, alright?”

Annabeth nodded her head, “Okay.”

Percy continued, “I know what we’ve – _heard_ today made you worry about what limits would I cross, and that’s fair. You’ve seen me do some fucked up shit that I’m not proud of. But you were also the one who pulled me back every time. So…” he tightened his hold around her, “…I can’t promise you that I’m not going to visit dark moments like that ever again. But – I’m asking you to pull me back. To reality. _To you._ Deal?”

Annabeth replied with a smile, “Deal.”

“Good,” said Percy and gave her forehead a kiss. “Because the future Mrs. Jackson has to be protected at all costs.”

“ _I hate you_ ,” Annabeth muttered against his neck.

“Shut up…” Percy said with a slight grin.

Annabeth changed the subject. “It’s so hot and you’re sweaty.”

“ _Rude…_ ” he replied.

“You smell like rotten fish when you’re sweaty.”

Percy pulled back. “No, I don’t!”

Annabeth kept teasing. “How can you be so sure though?”

“Whatever, _your_ sweat smells like… like an owl’s butt!”

Amused beyond compare, Annabeth sat up on her elbow and laughed at him, saying, “ _That’s_ the best one you could come up with, Seaweed Brain?”

“If I don’t want your mom to feed me to one of those owls, then yeah,” Percy replied. “I have to at least _try_ to keep a level relationship with my future mother-in-law.”

Annabeth chuckled at him before turning on her side and pulling the covers over herself. “Okay. Less talking, more sleeping,” she said. “My legs need some well-deserved rest.”

He wrapped a loose arm around her from behind and said with a smirk, “Yeah, you know it…”

Which earned him an elbow to the stomach.

“ _Ow!_ That hurt!”

“Good. Shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand, they are back at their bickering like nothing happened. You gotta love them <3
> 
> Hopefully, the next chapter will finally deliver what was promised to Annabeth which will be featured in, you guessed it, the Montauk weekend.
> 
> If you liked reading this story, please feed me with your comments once again so that I can feel more encouraged by your kind words to update as soon as possible. Once again, my Tumblr -> @getwokescullyy where you can always communicate with me however you like.
> 
> And you can still press that Kudos button if you've enjoyed this story so far :)


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